Loving Return
by Devumaru
Summary: Lincoln is sent to boot camp after taking the bullet for one of his sisters. This story is about his return after so long and about his sisters slowly realizing that their little brother became a man. WARNING: Lincoln x Harem. SMUT in some chapters. Other characters beside the sisters in Lincoln's harem. Yep... this story is going to be trash. But I hope you give it a try!
1. Prologue and Eight Years

**Hello! This is going to be the first FanFiction I have ever done. Honestly, it isn't going to be much, since I have no experience with this whatsoever. However, I do have the experience and pleasure of reading a bunch of them throughout my years of living on this planet.**

 **The reason why I chose to do** _ **The Loud House**_ **as my first FanFiction is because it was the only one I was actually able to come up with an idea for. It ain't going to be the best one you'll read because that honor belongs to** _ **Requiem for a Loud**_ **by UnderratedHero.**

 **What I'm aiming for is a loving and heartwarming comfy story. Unfortunately, for some of you guys, this will be an incestuous story, with harem elements. It's not as if I want to see this in the actual show, but I decided to see if I can tackle this subject and create a surprisingly awesome romance story. If you want a good example of a well-written romantic incestuous story, check out** _ **The**_ _ **Worst Kept Secret in the Loud House**_ **by recoverydelta.**

 **Without further ado, here is my first FanFiction:** _ **Loving Return**_

 _ ******_ **Disclaimer: I do not own** _ **The Loud House**_ **.** _ **The Loud House**_ **is the property of Chris Savino and Nickelodeon****

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1: Prologue and Eight Years**_

**Prologue**

It was a pretty summer day. The sky was clear, the sun was shining brightly down on the many houses, and the neighborhood itself seemed at peace. However, the peaceful and serene atmosphere could not be found at one residence, known simply as the Loud House.

Inside the Loud House lived a scary amount of residents; thirteen to be exact. Two of them were the parents and heads of the household, Rita and Lynn Sr. The rest of the eleven were the many siblings, specifically one boy and ten girls.

The names of the girls from oldest to youngest are Lori, the bossy and oldest sister, Leni, the kind-hearted but ditzy sister, Luna, the rock-and-roll spirited sister, Luan, the funny and aggravating comedic sister, Lynn, the athletic superstar sister, Lucy, the gothic and expressionless sister, Lana, the tomboy and dirty sister, Lola, the devilish yet graceful sister, Lisa, the kid-genius sister, and Lily, the baby sister.

Finally we have the middle child, the brother to all of those girls, Lincoln; the brother who loves all of his sisters and would do anything for them. Sometimes he was selfish, but that was normal for any kid his age. Whenever he did make a mistake, he did his utmost best to fix it. However, at this moment, he was trying his best to resolve an argument that broke out amongst all of his sisters.

Although this argument between his sisters had nothing to do with him, he felt obligated to help resolve it, since both of his parents decided to hide out in their bedroom, along with Lily, to keep away from the rampaging storm that was the Loud sisters fighting.

"Guys! Come on, stop fighting!", Lincoln screamed as loud as he could over the various screams of his sisters. Of course, none of them were listening to him. Lincoln was exhausted. He had been at this all morning. He just wanted some peace and quiet to read his Ace Savvy comics in his underwear without hearing someone scream at someone else.

"Guys! Please, let's all just calm down and talk to each other without resorting to violence!" Finally, to Lincoln's surprise, he caught the attention of Lola. At first, he was ecstatic that he got her attention, but then saw Lola's incredibly intimidating glare.

"Stay... OUT OF THIS LINCOLN!" Lola ran towards Lincoln with the intent to kill, which of course, scared the pants off of Lincoln as he ran away from Lola.

"L-Lola! Calm down! I just want to help-"

"We don't need your help, Lincoln! You'll just ruin everything again! Just butt out!"

Lincoln ran around the room with Lola on his tail for a while, making Lola get even more aggravated.

"Lola! Stop chasing me! I'll leave, alright? I'll get out of here and leave you all to your sister protocol!"

"Too little, too late, Lincoln!" Lola reached her hand out for the nearest thing and threw it at Lincoln. Lola was expecting to hear only a thud and Lincoln's pained scream, which at this point would be music to her ears. However, she did not expect to hear the awful sound of something made of porcelain breaking against her brother's face as he fell to the ground, too shocked to scream.

The sound of something breaking immediately stopped the other sisters from fighting each other. Silence filled the Loud House for the first time that day.

As soon as it went silent, Rita, holding Lily, and Lynn Sr. ran out to see the source of the sound. Both were horrified to see Lincoln with pieces of cracked porcelain all over his body. He slowly sat up, groaning as he did.

Lynn Sr.'s face quickly turned red with rage as he looked at the girls.

"This is the last straw! Girls! All of you line up from oldest to youngest now! No questions!" All of them did what their father had said as fast as they could. Lynn Sr. started to pace in front of them, not even looking at them as he grumbled to himself.

"I can forgive the numerous amount of times you've broken stuff. I can forgive the fact that your fights go so out of hand that your mother and I have to hide in our bedrooms to keep ourselves safe from your fights. I CANNOT forgive that you would not even give your brother the chance to try and help you resolve your arguments. Not only that, but one of you had the nerve to throw a plate at him?"

The older girls tried to keep a calm face, though they felt destroyed, while most of the younger girls, plus Leni, started to feel like tearing up. They admitted that they never wanted to have Lincoln's help during one of their sister protocols, but they didn't realize that they had went too far when they decided that Lincoln was the cause of their problems.

"That's it. I will not allow such dangerous acts in this house again! And I'll put a stop to it here by...by...by sending whoever threw the plate at Lincoln to boot camp for a week!" The girls froze in terror. They've heard of boot camp before. They knew how it would demoralize them and strip them of their pride and dignity. They wouldn't be able to express themselves there. It terrified them to no end.

Lincoln, who had stayed quiet the whole time, saw the fear present on all of his sisters' faces. A part of him wanted to gloat and be happy that his sisters will finally be punished for always blaming him for every time they got into a fight. But that part of him was superseded by his concern for his sisters. He knew boot camp would destroy them. He didn't want any of them to go through that.

Lincoln looked at Lola, the sister that had thrown the plate at him. He couldn't muster up any anger towards her. Only concern. How would Lola be able to survive at boot camp without her beauty products and such? He couldn't imagine Lola at a place like that. Lincoln knew what he had to do. As he always did. He was a boy who planned everything out.

Lynn Sr. crossed his arms.

"Now, will someone tell me, WHO threw the plate at Lincoln?" Lola started tearing up. She knew she had to fess up soon. She knew none of her sisters would stand up for her since they were just fighting each other seconds ago. She knew Lincoln wouldn't stand up for her because she was the one who hurt him in the first place.

When Lola started to cry, Lynn Sr. focused all of his attention on her.

"Lola? Do you have something you want to say?"

Lola tried her best to speak through her tears.

"I-I...I-"

"It wasn't any of them. I broke the plate, Dad."

All of the sisters and Lynn Sr. looked over to Lincoln with a shocked look on their face. Lincoln stood up dusting off the porcelain still on him.

"What? Is this true, Lincoln?", Lynn Sr. asked, looking more confused than angry.

Lincoln nodded.

"It's true, Dad. They had nothing to do with it. I accidentally broke the plate when I brought it downstairs because I wanted to ask everyone here to check it out since it had this cool signature on it and-"

"WAIT, WHAT?!" Lynn Sr. ran over past Lincoln and picked up a few of the pieces of the broken plate.

He put the pieces together and saw that it indeed had a signature on it. Lynn Sr.'s face turned red with anger once again. This time, however, he directed his attention to Lincoln, who tried to stay calm, even with his father glaring at him.

"Lincoln… If you were the one who broke this plate, tell me... where did you get this plate?"

Lincoln was a little afraid of his father's tone, but once he thought of any of his sisters being possibly sent to boot camp, he strengthened his resolve and forgot his fears.

"I got it from the attic, Dad."

It wasn't a complete lie; Lincoln had found the plate in the attic. He wanted to ask his dad about it before the whole sister debacle started. He placed it on the couch near the sisters' fight, so it made sense that Lola seemingly threw a plate out of nowhere at him.

Lynn Sr. was quiet for a little before he stood up and shot a glare at Lincoln.

"Lincoln… this was my most prized possession…" Lincoln gulped. He saw this coming, and as much as he wanted to prevent anything bad happening to him, for his sisters, he would have to bear the brunt of the full force of his dad's anger.

"D-Dad, I'm really sorry! I d-didn't-"

"Lincoln! How many times have I told you and your sisters to not touch anything in the attic without consulting Mom or I?!"

"B-But Dad, I thought it was cool so I wanted to ask y-"

"This was signed by the lead singer of _The Barracudas_! They were my favorite band as a kid and I was lucky enough to be able to meet them in person and get their signature on this plate!"

The sisters felt concern and fear for Lincoln. They had never seen their father this mad before, and they knew that it was not Lincoln's fault, but theirs. Although it was Lola who threw the plate and broke it against Lincoln's face, the sisters were all to blame for not being able to calm down. Lola was the one who felt the worse. She wanted to speak up, and argue with her dad that it was her that broke it, not Lincoln. But her words got stuck halfway through her throat. She couldn't say anything as tears fell down her face.

Lynn Sr. turned his back on Lincoln.

"I'm sorry, Lincoln… But I need to set an example for the girls. And if I need to punish you to do that, then so be it."

He turned back to face Lincoln.

"Lincoln, as punishment for taking my signed plate without my permission and breaking it, I don't have any choice... but to send you to boot camp."

The look on Lincoln's face devastated his sisters. It was a combination of sadness and surprise. Lincoln fought hard to make sure he wouldn't cry. He didn't want to cry in front of his sisters after he had sacrificed himself to keep them from going to boot camp. His voice, however, couldn't hide the pain he was currently feeling.

"B-but, Dad…"

Lincoln's voice was higher than usual, a huge indication that he was on the verge of tears. Lynn Sr. felt horrible, but as the patriarch of the family, he needed to set things straight. He was tired of the disrespect his children had shown him and his wife. He had to put his foot down.

"Lincoln, no buts. Go to your room and begin packing up what you need for boot camp. Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lisa, you are all grounded for a week. You cannot leave this house for anything other than school or whatever your mother and I need you to do. Understand?"

The sisters nodded sadly.

Lincoln ran up the stairs. He felt like he was going to cry, and he could not show his sisters that weak side of him. He wanted them to see him as their heroic brother, not a weakling who thought that he could make everything better. Unfortunately, his sisters noticed tears go down his cheeks right before he disappeared from their sight upstairs. Rita gave Lily to Lori and told her and the rest of the girls to go upstairs to their rooms. After they all left, Rita looked at Lynn Sr. with a concerned look.

"Lynn, dear… don't you think you've gone a little overboard?"

Lynn Sr. looked at his wife with an exhausted look.

"Don't worry, honey. I'm sure this experience will make sure the girls and Lincoln understand that they have to learn how to respect us and each other. They'll be able to live more comfortably, trust me... Now come on, I need help finding a boot camp for Lincoln to go to for a week."

Rita nodded and joined Lynn Sr. in searching through their newspapers and magazines for a boot camp. Soon, Lynn Sr. set his eyes on a small square of detail near the bottom of the right page.

"Boot Camp Project? Searching for applicants to stay here at the boot camp? Our goal is to make sure your kid becomes a respectable member of society? Free of charge?! Sounds perfect for Lincoln! Honey, I already found a perfect boot camp for Lincoln! I'll call them now and set a date to send Lincoln there!"

"That's great, dear!", Rita yelled at Lynn Sr. As Lynn Sr. dialed the number in the house phone, he failed to realize that at the bottom of the ad for the boot camp were small and almost non-legible words that would change his and his family's life forever.

...

Lincoln started to pack up his clothes and such into a small briefcase. His tears have long dried, and all he could think about now is how relieving it was that his sisters didn't have to go to boot camp. He sadly smiled as he looked around his small room. He would definitely miss sleeping in here. He would definitely miss seeing his sisters in the morning during the run to the bathroom and his parents at breakfast. But most of all, he would definitely miss being able to spend time with his sisters both individually and with all of them together.

Even though it was a horrible day, it wasn't as if his sisters had always treated him bad. He loved every single one of them. That's why he took the shot for Lola. He couldn't bear the fact that Lola would have to live in a boot camp, where they aim to break you down and make you a "respectable child". He didn't want Lola to be brainwashed into being something she isn't, even if she could be annoying sometimes.

*Knock, Knock*

Lincoln straightened up when he heard someone knock at his door. When he stood up to go open it, however, he hesitated. What if it was his dad, who'd come to yell at him again? What if his sisters wanted to yell at him for causing the mess in the first place by bringing the plate down? He started feeling a little scared, but decided to take a different action instead of just opening his door. "W-Who is it?", Lincoln asked, a small sliver of fear apparent in his voice.

"I-It's me, L-L-Lola… please open the door, L-L-Lincoln."

'Lola? What does she want from me?', Lincoln thought. As soon as he opened the door, Lola charged in and cried into his orange polo shirt.

"I'M SO SORRY, LINCOLN!" Lola started to wail, as if someone had broken her favorite tiara and burned everything else she loved.

"I WANTED TO TELL DAD YOU DIDN'T DO IT! I WANTED TO TELL HIM IT WAS ME! BUT I COULDN'T! I COULDN'T! NOW YOU'RE GOING TO BOOT CAMP BECAUSE OF ME! I'M SO SORRY, LINCOLN! PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO TAKE IT IF I KNEW YOU HATED ME!"

Although everything she said had been muffled by Lincoln's shirt, making it so that no one could understand her, he heard everything clearly. He bent down to Lola's height and hugged her tight, calming her down by rubbing her head and her back. All the fear and sadness he had just felt seconds before were replaced by the feelings of being an older brother for his younger sister.

"Shh, Shh. Lola. Lola, calm down. Listen to me, okay? Listen to me…"

Lincoln repeated those words to Lola in a calm manner, which eventually helped Lola calm down. She would never admit it, but when her brother's voice went calm like that, it made her feel so special. It made her problems seemingly go away.

Lola looked into Lincoln's eyes. Lincoln looked back and saw so much pain and grief. He brushed his hand against the top of her head.

"It is not your fault I'm going to boot camp. It's my fault. I should have never taken the plate from the attic. I don't blame you for any of this for one second. And I definitely can never, ever, hate my little princess."

Lola wanted to argue with him. She wanted to say that Lincoln was too kind for his own good. But the minute Lincoln called her his princess, the waterworks started again and Lola found herself buried in Lincoln's shirt.

"LINCOLN! P-P-PLEASE, TELL ME YOU'RE NOT LYING! TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME!"

Lincoln hugged Lola tightly, and smiled.

"I'm not lying to you, Lola. I absolutely love you. I love you so much."

Lola continued to cry and cry, and Lincoln continued to be the best big brother he could be for her.

All of the sudden, he felt something jump into his left arm, right next to Lola. Lincoln opened his eyes and looked to his left to see a crying Lana, tightly gripping onto Lincoln.

"L-L-LINCOLN!", Lana yelled as she wept into her older brother's left arm, "PLEASE DON'T LEAVE! TELL DAD THAT HE'S JUST BEING A BIG BULLY, AND THAT HE SHOULD LET YOU STAY!"

Lincoln hugged both Lana and Lola close to him. Lana continued.

"I DON'T CARE IF I'M GROUNDED FOR A WEEK. BUT HOW COULD I HAVE FUN INSIDE THE HOUSE WHEN YOU'RE NOT HERE TO HELP ME HAVE FUN!?"

Lincoln calmly whispered into his little sisters' ears.

"Shh… Shh… Listen you two… don't worry… Your big brother's here right now, right? I'm never going to make you feel as if I left you, okay?"

Lana and Lola whimpered as they started to slowly stop crying. Lincoln hugged them tightly and kissed the top of their heads.

"I would never want to leave you guys. You guys are my everything."

*Creak* As soon as Lincoln heard his door creak open, he looked up. What he saw was surprising, to say the least.

Lori, holding Lily, and Luna were looking down at Lincoln with sadness in their eyes, trying not to cry as to maintain their image as one of the older sisters.

Leni and Luan on the other hand were openly crying and soon charged into Lincoln's room and hugged him from the sides of his head.

Lynn couldn't keep a serious face when she saw Lincoln and started to cry, so she fell to her knees and hid her face from everyone there by looking into the floor, silently hoping that all of this was a dream, and that Lincoln wasn't going to go to boot camp because of them.

Black mascara was falling down where Lucy's eyes were as she cried in the corner of Lincoln's room.

Even Lily started crying as soon as she saw Lincoln. She felt as if something was wrong, but she couldn't understand what was the problem.

As soon as Lisa was able to run into Lincoln's room, she ran in between Lola and Lana to hug Lincoln's chest. She wasn't full on crying, but she was sniffling, which made it even harder to understand her since she also had a lisp.

"You hebetudinous yet courageous homo sapien! How could you just sacrifice yourself to imprisonment just like that for the sake of one of your sisters? I'd ask you to tell Dad the truth and get yourself out of this debacle you placed yourself in, b-b-but I know you won't. You want Lola, all of us to stay out of boot camp, don't you? And to keep us safe from that prison, you'd throw yourself in there as abdication, wouldn't you!?"

Lincoln rested his head on Lisa's as he had his arms full with Lola and Lana hanging onto them. It still was calming to Lisa nonetheless.

"Lisa, of course I would. You know that I love all of you so much, right? Even if you all ended up hating me one day, I'd always love you-"

Lisa suddenly looked up at Lincoln.

"How could you say that?! N-N-None of us could ever hate you! I...All of us love you so m-m-muc-" Lisa couldn't take it anymore and started to cry into Lincoln's chest.

Lori and Luna followed suit with Lisa, in that they started crying and ran to join the group hug surrounding Lincoln.

Lynn and Lucy also ran to the group hug too, and finally the entirety of the Loud siblings were connected. All of the sisters started to apologize to each other while also crying and apologizing to Lincoln. Lincoln forgave every single one of them. He started to join them in crying, letting his tears fall down his face.

As Lily cried, she pulled at Lincoln's hair, wanting his love and attention to go towards her.

"P-P-Poo poo!"

Hearing Lily was the last straw for Lincoln. He started to openly cry, which caused the rest of the Loud sisters to cry even harder, if that was even possible.

"D-D-Don't worry, guys! I-It'll be over with in a flash! I-It's just a week right?"

Lincoln pulled everyone off him to look at him in the eyes. He tried his best to smile the brightest smile he could give them while he cried. Every sister looked back at him and smiled as well, even as tears fell down their faces.

"It won't be long, guys. I'll be back before anyone of you knows it…"

**Prologue Ends**

* * *

**Eight Years Later**

It's been eight years since Lincoln was sent to boot camp. These days, the Loud House is never "loud" anymore. It seems all of the life and energy that exuded from that house was sucked dry. It wasn't as if the older sisters of that household moved out either. They were still there. All of them. Along with the parents.

A lot of things have changed in the eight years Lincoln was gone. For the first four years, the girls had glared at their dad whenever he tried to talk to them. They wanted nothing to do with him. Even though they knew Lincoln was alive somewhere, they felt as if he were dead. Gone from this world… their world. And it was all their dad's fault.

For the next four years, however, they were exhausted of being angry most of the time they were home. They felt that they would never forgive their dad, but they knew they couldn't keep up with being angry with him forever. They started to answer back to him, but in one-word answers only. They no longer looked at him with anger, but with sadness instead.

Lynn Sr. felt an immense guilt because of the past eight years. He knew it was his fault that Lincoln had been gone for eight years; he just didn't know why he was gone for so long. Now his own daughters hate him, and there was no way for him to get them to forgive him. He couldn't even go get Lincoln himself, because he had no idea where the boot camp was. For all he knew, Lincoln was-

Lynn Sr. cried to himself in his bedroom, as Rita comforted him. She missed her little boy so much, but she couldn't find it in her heart to hate her husband for it. She does blame him of course, but right now, she needed to be there for him. She needed to be the one who could forgive him right now.

Nonetheless, the biggest change to the household were the girls themselves. They all looked somewhat different than they did eight years ago. Lori and Leni looked about the same, if not more mature.

Luna and Luan grew a little taller, being the same height as Lori and Leni.

Lynn and Lucy both gotten taller, with Lynn being the same height as Lori and Leni whereas Lucy is a little bit shorter than Luan was eight years ago.

Lola and Lana both became a little shorter than Lucy was in the present time. They've grown a lot since their size eight years ago, with Lola looking more like the stereotypical beautiful teenage girl, while Lana looked like the dirtier version of her like always, with the difference being her hair only reached her shoulders whereas Lola let her hair grow long.

Lisa is as tall as the twins are now, and lost most of her baby fat, making her not only a smart girl, but an attractive smart girl.

Lily had changed the most. Whereas most of her sisters looked and acted the same, Lily changed completely compared to her baby self eight years ago. Her blonde hair had grown long and reached her back. She was highly energetic and was very cheerful, which was strange in the Loud House, since no one there was ever that happy anymore. She didn't walk around the house naked anymore as well. She found that her set of clothes she wore everyday like her older sisters to be a combination of a light blue t-shirt, denim jeans and an apron covered with paint.

...

 **Lori, now twenty-five years old** ,

is enrolled in the Royal Woods Community college. She's there because she hasn't decided on what major she wants to pursue, so she's just finishing up her GE's. She's also working as the manager of a cafe during the night shift. So her schedule is basically college in the morning, break-time in the afternoon, and then work until she got home at midnight.

Surprisingly enough, she was never tired of this schedule. In fact, she needed it. It helped her keep her mind off the one person in her life that meant more to her than anything, Lincoln. A year after Lincoln was sent to boot camp, Lori and Bobby broke up. It was on mutual terms however. Lori felt that Bobby wasn't that great of a boyfriend anymore. There wasn't that spark anymore. Plus, Lori felt she didn't love him that way anymore. It was as if she and Bobby were able to be together for so long because Lincoln was around, and that he was gone, she felt an emptiness that not even Bobby could fill. Bobby on the other hand, also felt that there wasn't that same fire that had filled both their hearts like before. He started falling in love with this other girl he met in college, and decided that he had to tell Lori that he wanted to call it quits.

Lori and Bobby still text each other, albeit not as much as they used to, checking on each other and chatting just like friends would. Every night before she went to bed, Lori would, literally, wish for Lincoln's safe return. She's done this for the last eight years, and she'll do it for the rest of her life if it'll get Lincoln home.

...

 **Leni, now twenty-four years old,**

had it the worst of all the sisters. For the first year of Lincoln's absence from the Loud House, she had merely thought Lincoln was playing hide and seek. She couldn't comprehend the idea that Lincoln was actually gone. When the second year had gone and Leni had graduated, however, she realized Lincoln was truly gone, as he would have never missed her graduation.

Thus, after she graduated, Leni fell into a deep depression. All of her hopes and ambitions were replaced by the hopes that Lincoln will come home. For the six years after that, Leni only got worse and worse, losing her ability to socialize with anyone outside of the family, and ended up just staying home all day. If there was anything that was good about this situation to her, it was that she somehow kept her hourglass figure… She still desperately wanted Lincoln home though.

She missed his cute laugh and lovable personality. She missed how he would always listen to her as someone of equal standing, rather than as someone of lower intelligence. Lincoln had shown countless times that he had loved Leni to a fault.

One of the biggest times he had shown Leni he loved her was when he did everything he could to teach her how to drive. It was thanks to his training that she eventually did get her driver's license. But even with the driver's license finally in her possession, it meant nothing to her if she couldn't tell Lincoln about it.

She had nightmares and dreams about Lincoln. The nightmares consisted of Lincoln being taken away from her, and her never being able to hug her brother close to her anymore. The dreams consisted of her and Lincoln spending time with each other. Even though they had been nothing but figments of her imagination… if they allow her to see Lincoln, it was worth indulging in them.

Thus, the only part of the day Leni looked forward to was bedtime. But in the back of her mind, she knew that the other part of the day she would look forward to the most would be the part where Lincoln came home.

...

 **Luna, now twenty-three years old,**

is also attending the Royal Woods community college, so that gave her and Lori the chance to hang out whenever the two had ample time. Luna took some GE's, but what most of her classes consisted of had something to do with music. She wanted to broaden her musical horizon by learning all the types of music she could.

It also helped that she had a job at the local bar that allowed her to get used to playing different types of music. She was a performer there and every night at seven, she had to perform a specific genre for that night. For example, Monday's were classical nights, Tuesday's were metal night, and so on. She was happy to work there since it just so happened to be a gay bar, and all the patrons there were down-to-earth, as they let their insecurities and concerns leave them the moment they walked through the door. Luna knew most of their names, and they all loved it whenever she performed.

Luna, however, refuses to play any form of rock for Friday's rock night, so she gets to go home Friday's. She refuses to play rock of any sort because… it reminds her too much of Lincoln. Luna, like Leni, Lucy, and Lana, felt that they were closest to Lincoln. It was because of him they were able to truly be themselves and be happy about who they were.

Whenever Luna had insecurities about who she was and why she was doing music in the first place, Lincoln would always be there to support her. He always made her feel like the stars, and he truly believed she could be one of them.

However, after he was sent to boot camp and seemingly disappeared for eight years, Luna tried desperately to get him off her mind. She tried dating other guys at her college to try and replace Lincoln with them. But they all expected her to be an easy girl; they wanted to take advantage of her as soon as she let her guard down, so of course, she broke it off with all of them.

Luna never realized how special her little brother was. He was a rare sort of man in Royal Woods: he was a gentleman. He always had thought of other people, while almost completely ignoring himself. He would boost other people by allowing them to use him as a stepping stone. Luna loved that about Lincoln. She wanted to repay him for everything he had done for her as soon as she got money to get him something… But now he's gone… and she has no idea when he'll return.

...

 **Luan, now twenty-two years old,**

was living her dream life, in that she had gotten a well-paying job at a local fancypants club that required her to do skits and tell jokes to the audience. And although the audience there were the rich and wealthy, they were actually down-to-earth people, and they loved it whenever Luan got the chance to perform. For some reason, that specific group of people who meet at the club absolutely find her jokes hilarious.

Luan felt happy that someone else other than her favorite little brother found her jokes funny. But the audience, as much as she loved them, could never take Lincoln's spot in her heart. It was pretty "heart" for her to keep her thoughts from straying over to Lincoln. She also only worked in the evenings like her older sisters, although she gets to go home a little earlier than Lori and Luna.

As soon as she gets home, she rushes to her room and opens her closet. Inside was a well-decorated shrine dedicated to her little brother, Lincoln. After Lincoln was sent to boot camp, she found herself falling into a depression of sorts. Not as bad as Leni's was, poor soul, but it had prevented her from coming up with puns, skits, and so on for any of her gigs.

It was by the third year that she had realized anything that had been touched by Lincoln made her feel ecstatic again. She started to secretly sneak into Lincoln's now unoccupied room to take small things, such as the socks he left behind. Soon, she started going for the bigger things he left behind, like his underwear and Bun-Bun.

She couldn't hide it from Luna anymore since her collection of Lincoln's items had grown too large. So she decided to use her part of the closet to make a shrine dedicated to Lincoln. Fortunately for her, it was covered by the various instruments of Luna, so Luna never even noticed the shrine in their closest.

Luan would walk to her handmade shrine and continued to work on her mannequin of Lincoln. The mannequin of Lincoln was strikingly similar to Lincoln; it had his orange polo, his blue denim jeans, his red shoes, and his trademark white hair, which was made of a material that made it so that it looked like real hair. For the last four years she had been working on her Lincoln mannequin.

She missed him so much, but the reason she was working on his eleven-year old self was because she couldn't imagine how he would look now… For the eighth year, she would slowly add more and more detail to hide face, starting with his eyebrows and down. Her shrine and mannequin of Lincoln were the only things keeping her sane now… oh how she missed her sweet , little supportive brother. How he used to laugh at all her jokes and help her with her gigs… she'd do anything to bring him back home…

...

 **Lynn, now twenty-one years old,**

is the head teacher of all of the Royal Woods Elementary School sports. It fitted her perfectly as she loved playing sports so much, and she wanted the children of the next generation to also love playing sports. She is in charge of making sure all the teams, along with the coaches, of every sport follow regulations, but mostly she likes to make sure they have fun with the sport.

She is the youngest teacher the school has had to date, and the reason they hired her was because they knew that her athletic background was more than enough to prove her dedication to sports. Plus, they hoped that she would help them win more games, which she has done very well, since every game played so far has been won by their respective sports team. Everyone in the school respects her greatly.

Of all the sisters, everyone thought she was handling the loss of Lincoln the best. She was constantly encouraging her sisters to be happy and move on, because that's the way Lincoln would have wanted it. Although it had not worked out for Leni and Luan, it did motivate Lori and Luna to be less mopey.

Lynn was so nonchalant about the whole situation that Leni accused her of not caring about Lincoln's well-being. Lynn didn't take it to heart because she knew that Leni was distraught about Lincoln's disappearance. She apologized to Leni and said that she did love and miss Lincoln, she was just taking it in her own way, to which Leni apologized too for jumping to conclusions.

What the sisters didn't know was that every night, Lynn would sneak out of her and Lucy's room and go inside Lincoln's room. Once she's in, she would lock the door behind her and jump in Lincoln's bed. Then she would cuddle with the sheets of his bed and cry softly into it. She was grateful that his room had been soundproofed eight years ago. She was sure it benefitted Lincoln a lot, since his sisters were pretty loud. It was funny… Lincoln was never that loud of a kid, when compared to Lynn or any of the other girls.

She sniffed Lincoln's sheets by accident as she tried to stop crying. It still smelled like Lincoln… she would never want this pleasure to be taken away by anyone other than Lincoln… She wanted Lincoln's bed all to herself… she wanted Lincoln all to herself… But most of all… she wanted her brother to come back to the Loud House.

...

 **Lucy, now sixteen years old,**

is as gloomy as she's always been, if not, even more gloomy with the sudden disappearance of her beloved brother. Ever since Lincoln was sent to boot camp, Lucy has stopped speaking to anyone. She wouldn't even talk to Lynn, and they sleep in the same room. It's become a common occurrence for Lucy to go directly to her and Lynn's room after she gets home from school. She completely ignores anyone who tries to talk to her, especially when it comes to her father.

Out of all the sisters, the one who is the most angry and disappointed of their dad was Lucy. Although she never really showed her emotions, even moreso with Lincoln being taken out of her life, the rest of the family can tell that whenever she is near her dad, a tension fills the air that could be cut by a butter knife. And who could blame her? Lincoln was the closest person to Lucy. He understood that Lucy had a taste that was considered very different in society, and Lincoln loved her all the same for it.

He understood her where most would mock and berate her for being who she was. He loved her… She loved him back… and now he was gone. All because of her dad… All because of her dad… All because of her dad… Lucy shook her head to keep focus. She was doing alright in school. However, she wished that people would stop coming up to her just to make fun of her. So far, no one has crossed that line into bullying though. It was all just mindless and cruel insults being thrown her way, and her expertly dodging them. The only words that she wanted to hear now had to be related to Lincoln coming home.

She missed her brother so dearly. Her bust of Edwin had quickly been replaced by a bust of Lincoln after six years had passed since his being sent to boot camp. She had made the bust while in her ceramics class in high school. It bears a striking resemblance to Lincoln. So much that if any of her other sisters had seen it, they would have thought it was the actual thing.

Every time Lucy had the chance to be alone, she would silently cry and hug the bust of Lincoln. It was even harder to be alone now that she could not fit in the vents anymore. When the seventh year had past, and Lincoln still hadn't returned home, Lucy started to kiss the bust of Lincoln. She kissed it every where she could: on the cheeks, on the forehead, and even on the lips. It made her feel so much more relaxed than she had ever felt in the last eight years. It felt almost the same as… when Lincoln was around…

She sighed. She joined the occult club on the eight year anniversary of Lincoln's departure. She had hoped that there, she could learn how to summon spirits, demons, anything that could aid her in bringing back her brother. She could use them to bring back her brother, from whatever hell-hole he had sacrificed himself to, for the sake of his sisters. Unfortunately, nothing she learned in that club had worked. Nothing was summoned, and Lincoln was still gone.

...

The twins themselves were getting along just as fine as everyone else was, in that it was hard to move on, but they had to.

 **Lola, now fourteen years old,**

is still competing in any beauty pageants announced in the Royal Woods area. She's won every single one. Just goes to show just how beautiful she's become. She's even won the Miss Royal Woods pageant. Lola especially liked that one, not just because it was recorded and she was given a tape of it, but because of what she had said when asked what she wanted the most after she had won. Lola would watch the recording at least once a day, but she only watched the last part. The part where she won the pageant and was given the trophy.

She watched that last part not to fuel her ego, but to rewatch what she had said. "What I want most in the world… is for my older brother Lincoln to come back home… Lincoln, if you're watching this… Please… come home soon… We miss you… I-I miss you."

Every time she watched that scene, she cried. She didn't cry that day on stage, but her family, who were in the crowd, immediately started crying. Heck, the entire audience started to cry. Lola felt embarrassed at the time, but now she was proud of what she said.

She hoped that what she had said would reach Lincoln, wherever he was.

 **Lana, also fourteen years old,**

on the other hand had become a very skilled handyman, or in this case, a handy woman. She used to her skills to constantly help around the house: fixing the door knobs, making sure Vanzilla can still run after all these years, and the sort.

Her love of animals and getting her hands dirty only increased after all these years. Even if she got more and more dirty and wild the last eight years, she and Lola were still as close as ever, if not even closer. Even if they were worlds apart, which they had noticed more than ever now that they were in high school together, they didn't care, because they loved each other. Lincoln would have been proud.

The loss of Lincoln in their lives greatly affected them. Occasionally, Lana and Lola would catch each other crying and comfort the other. They still have not gotten over Lincoln's disappearance, and they probably never will.

Before Lana goes to bed, she would always hug Lincoln's old orange polo tightly. She's done this for the last eight years; at first it helped her calm down when she couldn't sleep at night during the first few years of Lincoln's disappearance. Afterwards, it just reminded her of Lincoln and helped her sleep without nightmares keeping her awake.

She felt lucky to have Lincoln's orange polo because she noticed that on the third year after Lincoln was sent to boot camp, stuff from his room started disappearing. She assumed some rats in the vents have been taking them. Either that or someone other than her has been taking stuff out of Lincoln's room…

...

 **Lisa, now twelve years old,**

is regarded as the one of the smartest people in the world. Not only did she solve World Hunger by making it so that potatoes grew at a faster rate, but she also helped out in the case of curing various diseases that you previously couldn't cure before. Many people have started to call her this generation's Albert Einstein. Many highly recognized scientists have invited her to work at higher institutions of health and human services, an honor many would never dream of refusing. And yet she refused.

She had already been given a lot of money by the government and by the jobs she had worked on to continue to further advance her studies and "continue to make the world a better place to live in", in the words of those who rewarded her with money and awards. In all honesty, she didn't care about any of that. She didn't care about the world. All the things she did were mere child's play to her. What she was aiming for was a device that would pinpoint her older brother's location.

Like Lynn, Lisa had kept her emotions to herself. And like Lucy, she kept to herself most of the time. In the times where she was alone, she would work on the device to find Lincoln without rest. She never got tired of it because she wanted Lincoln home so badly. As she gotten older, her lisp went away and she could finally speak without feeling insecure about it. No one in her family really cared though, which was something she was grateful for.

Lincoln was the most understanding of her family members, and she loved that about him. After Lincoln was sent to boot camp, Lisa realized that she never really shown that much love to Lincoln, at least not as much as her sisters did. After the fourth year had passed, Lisa felt an incredible guilt. What if Lincoln didn't remember her fondly? What if Lincoln believed she had hated him? These questions became the catalyst for Lisa to begin Project Lincoln's Retrieval. She wanted him back home to create memories with him. She wanted to do things with him that both he and her could enjoy.

Now, eight years had passed, and she was nowhere near the completion of her device. She's been so busy with her other dedications that when she was finally done with them, she realized that she left her device untouched for so long. Even with all the money and praise she got, what was the point if she can't tell her older brother so he could be proud of her? What was the point of being a "kid genius" when the one person that mattered to you and cared for you was ripped from your life?

She has no one to blame other than herself for the incompletion of her device to find Lincoln … what if Lincoln had encountered something that could have possibly ki-... Lisa sighed. She had to think positive like Lynn. She had to believe that Lincoln was still alive, just stuck in that prison they call a reforment center.

When no one was looking, and when Lily was out of the room, Lisa would cry on her device, apologizing over and over to Lincoln… hoping that he were still alive so that the completion of her device wouldn't be for naught. Even with all the congratulations she received from her peers and family, the one person she wanted to be proud of her the most was Lincoln. She wanted to feel his hand pat her head for a job well-done again… She wanted her older brother back.

...

 **Lily, now nine years old,**

can barely remember her older brother, something that she regrets everyday for the last eight years. She knew as a baby, from the stories her older sisters would recall, that Lincoln was basically just like a second father figure to her. He took care of Lily when no one else wanted to. She wishes Lincoln were still around.

If he really is as kind as everyone says he is, then would he be proud of the fact that she was an expert at drawing? Her drawings looked really nice. They were akin to the art in very famous animations, such as the top grossing anime film, " _Ghosted A Far"._ It was so well done that she got a trophy in an art contest for being the best artist of Royal Woods Elementary.

Lily herself thought they were average, but everyone around her said that they were amazing, which made her feel nice. She wanted to show Lincoln her drawings. She wanted to draw with him. But the one thing she wanted most from Lincoln was the experience of having an older brother.

Being surrounded by girls your whole life, of course you would be curious about having a brother. And once she had be capable of thinking in her own, she was told that she had an older brother? Of course she wanted to know more about her older brother!

Lily also wasn't stupid; she saw how his lack of being there affected everyone.

She saw how Lori would wish that Lincoln would return home every night before she went to sleep.

She saw how sad Leni was and how the absence of Lincoln had taken all of her energy away from her.

She saw how Luna would go out of her way to avoid anything to do with rock music to try and keep Lincoln out of her thoughts.

She saw how Luan, Lucy, and Lisa would immediately go to their respective rooms and not leave until they felt like it. She saw how Lynn would sneak into Lincoln's room late at night and hug his sheets and cry into them.

She saw how Lana and Lola would cry and hug each other whenever they were in their room talking about Lincoln.

She saw her dad cry into her mom's shoulder while apologizing at the same time.

She saw… how broken her family actually was. It was as if Lincoln was the glue that kept the family together and in order. And since he was gone, his family fell apart, like a house of cards collapsing on itself. Lily wants Lincoln to come home, not only to make her family happy, but also because she wants to throw a party for him when he returns.

Everyone's been so sad… They all need to let loose and have fun! They'll definitely agree to it since Lincoln's gonna be there to party too!

* * *

Right now, it was in the middle of the day on Friday. Leni was sleeping in her bed as usual while Luan was at home resting after one of her gigs by working on her mannequin of Lincoln. She was almost done with the eyes when she heard the front door open and the sounds of footsteps enter the house.

She quickly hid her Lincoln shrine and went downstairs to greet the sisters who came home. With Lori and Luna out of the house and Leni out of commission, Luan had to play the role of the older sister. All of her sisters, besides Lily, had noticed the lack of puns from Luan after Lincoln was sent to boot camp, and it was very unsettling for them to see Luan not crack a joke anymore. It was unnatural.

"Welcome home, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa, and Lily! How was school?" Lucy walked passed her without saying anything, as did Lisa. They weren't mad or annoyed by Luan; they just had things they wanted to do as soon as they got home.

Luan understood and didn't take it to heart. She runs up to her room as soon as she gets home as well after all. She looked back to Lola, Lana, and Lily.

"Well, how was school for you guys?" Lola was the first to speak.

"It was fine, Luan. Nothing really happened today."

"Same old same old", Lana added.

Lily took out a piece of paper. "My teacher asked the class to draw a picture of someone from their family!"

The girls looked intrigued at Lily's declaration.

"Who did you draw, Lily?", Luan asked.

Lily turned the paper around to show them. They reacted by showing a confused look on their faces. The person Lily drew was boyish and tall. They were wearing a suit and was in a pose that made them look like some bad-ass main character from a cartoon. The drawing itself was in black and white, in the style of manga, Lily's favorite type of art style. Lana grabbed Lily's paper.

"Is this supposed to be me, Lily? I know I'm a tomboy but sheesh! I at least think I look like a girl!"

Lily laughed.

"No, Lana! That's not you!"

"Is it.. Dad then?", Lola asked.

"Nope~", Lily said with a little smirk.

"Then, who is it?", Luan finally asked. Lily smiled.

"It's what I think Lincoln looks like now!" All of the sudden, the air around them got tense.

Unfortunately for them, the walls in the Loud House were still paper thin, allowing the sisters upstairs to come running down at the mention of Lincoln's name. Even Leni had woken up and rushed downstairs to see what Lily was talking about. Lucy was the first to speak.

"Can I see that, Lily?"

"Of course you can, Lucy!"

Lily handed the drawing over to Lucy, who looked at it emotionlessly.

"Hm… It's a nice drawing like usual, Lily, but I don't think Lincoln would be caught dead in a business suit."

Lily laughed, and as she was going to retort, Lisa threw in her two pieces.

"Actually, I think at the age he is now, which would be nineteen, he would wear one, and look dashing in it."

Leni grabbed the drawing out of Lucy's hands and looked at it confused.

"If Linky is in a pose like this, he should be wearing something much more flashy than a boring ol' business suit!"

Soon, all the sisters there started to throw in their ideas of what Lincoln could possibly look like after eight years.

Lily smiled. It's always nice to see the family together, especially since most of the sisters here tend to keep to themselves all the time.

The door opened and the sisters turned their heads to see Lori and Luna return from college, and Lynn return home from work. The three looked surprised to see everyone all downstairs together. It was a very rare sight nowadays.

"Whoa, everyone's here. What's going on?", Lori asked.

"Lily drew a picture of what Lincoln might look like today at school!", Luan replied back.

Lori, Luna, and Lynn's eyes opened wide. They immediately went to see what Lily's drawing depicted Lincoln as. As soon as they saw Lily's version of Lincoln, they also joined in the debate on what Lincoln looked like. Lori took the drawing away from the sisters wrestling over it.

"I don't think that twerp could ever look so suave.", Lori said, smirking at the drawing.

Everyone laughed. All of the sudden they stopped laughing. They haven't laughed like that for a long time, and now they were all laughing together for the first time in what seemed like ages. All because of Lily's drawing of… Lincoln.

Tears fell onto the drawing of Lincoln. Lori couldn't help but cry when she thought of how Lincoln was still keeping the family in check, even if he weren't here. As soon as Lori started to cry, the other sisters started crying as well. They all ran to give Lori a hug, resulting in a huge group hug, one that they haven't had ever since that day Lincoln was packing up for boot camp.

...

About one minute later, Lynn Sr. and Rita arrive home as well, parking their car in front of the garage. "We're home, dear. Would you like me to make some food?"

"No, it's okay honey. I'm full after lunch at the office today. Todd brought in a whole bunch of muffins for everyone, so I took some. Then when he asked me if if there was anything wrong with me today. I replied to him, "There's "muffin" wrong with me today, Todd!"

Rita couldn't help but laugh out loud. She knew that Lynn Sr. had his own way of coping with Lincoln being gone for so long. She loved the way he was able to stay positive. At least, most of the time.

Whenever she and him were alone, he would cry, and she would comfort him while crying as well. He was overcome with grief and guilt, and the girls… the girls just can't forgive him. The two parents enter the house to see their children crying and hugging each other right in front of the door, surprising them.

"What happened?!", Lynn Sr. asked out of fear for his children.

Rita ran up to them and noticed that there was a piece of paper on the ground. She picked it up and gasped.

"What's wrong, honey?" Lynn Sr. walked up to Rita to take a look at the paper.

His eyes opened wide in shock. The two looked at each other with gloom in their eyes and quickly hugged their kids, who did not resist, even if they were mad at their dad.

It was the first time in a long time there was a moment like this in the Loud House. Family coming together to help each other cope with the missing link that was Lincoln. It was enlightening, enriching, relax-

 ***RING! RING! RING***

The Loud family's hug was interrupted by the sounds of their house phone ringing. Lynn Sr. walked over to it, while he rubbed his eyes, getting rid of any tears that were still there.

"I *sniff* got it." ***Click*** He lifts home the phone to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Is this, Mr. or Mrs. Loud?", a mysterious voice asked on the other end.

"This is Mr. Loud speaking. Who's asking?"

"We're part of an organization that's funded by the government and we wanted to tell you and your family what you deserved to hear for a long time."

Lynn Sr. had a confused look on, wondering who was contacting him. "Uhhh, look, if you want to sell us something, we're not-"

"This is about The Boot Camp Project, Mr. Loud."

Lynn Sr. froze. Never has anyone ever said anything that had made him tense and stiffen up like this. Rita and the girls noticed this and looked concerned, wondering who was on the other line.

"W-what?", Lynn Sr. asked.

"This is about the Boot Camp Project, Mr. Loud", the mysterious voice repeats. "We want to deeply apologize to you and your family for any stressful moments and mishaps that occurred for the last eight years. We want to inform you that last week The Boot Camp Project has officially been discontinued and your son, Lincoln, is now being returned to your abode a week earlier than dictated on the agreement between you and the camp. Once again, we are deeply sorry for what The Boot Camp Project has done to your family. Thank you for your time, goodbye."

 ***Click-Beeeeeeeep***

Lynn Sr. dropped the phone, fell to his knees and stared off into space, scaring his family behind him. Rita ran to his side.

"What happened, Lynn?! Did you get fired from your job, or did something happen to Aunt Shirley, o-or what?" Lynn Sr. looked at Rita, then at his children, who were waiting intently for what occurred during the conversation between him and whoever was on the other line. Then he smiled. He started to tear up, but his face stayed a smile.

"R-Rita… Kids…" They came closer to him in concern.

"W-What, Lynn? Tell us." Lynn Sr. chuckled a little as he held his palm to his forehead.

"H-h-he's finally coming home…' Those three words struck hard with Rita and the girls, but they didn't want to get their hopes up. It could have been anyone…

"W-Who, dear?", Rita asked, with all the kids holding their breaths behind her, hoping, just like their mother, that their father would tell them that **he** was coming home. Lynn Sr. looked into everyone's eyes.

"H-He's coming home… O-Our L-L-Lincoln is finally coming home."

The room went silent quickly. No one could breathe. Everyone felt their heart stop when Lynn Sr. had said those beautiful words. Those words that they've been waiting to hear the last eight years. Lori walked towards her dad.

"D-Dad? A-A-Are you literally t-telling us… L-Lincoln's coming home?"

Lynn Sr. covered his face to hide his tears, and could only nod furiously. Rita fell to her knees and hugged her husband.

"T-Tell me you're not lying, Lynn! T-Tell me our little boy is actually coming home!"

"YES! LINCOLN IS COMING HOME! OUR LITTLE MAN IS FINALLY COMING HOME AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, RITA!"

Once Rita heard that, she immediately started bawling into Lynn Sr.'s arm and Lynn Sr. cried back into her arm. Lori took a step back in surprise. Shock was on her face as her father's words finally resonated within her and her sisters. The sisters stood there, frozen in time, while their parents finally broke down after all these years of stress building up inside them. Finally, Lori said something that the girls haven't heard ever since Lincoln had left.

"Girls, emergency sister meeting in my room."

...

All the sisters gathered into Lori and Leni's room for the first meeting in eons.

"Wow, it's pretty small in here now…", Lynn commented.

"No, the room isn't any smaller than it used to be. You all just grew up.", Lori laughed.

"Actually, I think it's because my side of the room is messy. I haven't cleaned up in a while", Leni said feeling embarrassed.

Everyone laughed. They felt more comfortable laughing together this time because after eight years, it seemed that the awkward and tense air around them disappeared.

After they finished laughing, the room went dead silent. But it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. It was a heartwarming silence. The girls smiled to themselves for what seemed to be the first genuine smile in a long time. They couldn't believe that their brother, Lincoln, was finally coming home.

"I-I-Is this a d-dream?", Leni asked, a little scared of the answer she would receive, "This happened once in one of my dreams. Not exactly like this, but somewhat like this…"

Everyone looked at Leni curl up about to cry. If this really were just a dream, she would be devastated. Lori relaxes her by putting her hand on her shoulder.

"Leni, it's not a dream this time. We know it's real. We're all here together. Lincoln...Linky's finally coming home."

Leni couldn't cry. She felt as if she would on that spot. To hear that her loving, little brother was finally coming home… It was if she had woken from a coma she was stuck in for eight years.

Lori hugs Leni tightly as the other sisters watch, joyful to see Leni finally get out of her depressed state. Leni hugs Lori back and smiles.

"Wow… Linky's coming home… I don't know what to say…"

"Neither do we, Leni. Neither do we…", Lori softly says as she brushes through Leni's miskept hair, effectively straightening it out, making Leni look more like herself eight years ago, rather than the messy look she kept for so long.

After Leni had calmed down, her and Lori sat up straight and the silence returned again. This time it was awkward. What was there to say? Everyone was dumbfounded by the fact that seemingly out of nowhere, they were told Lincoln was coming back, after most of them had given up hope that Lincoln would ever return. Then, Lola broke the silence.

"I wonder… what if Lincoln isn't the same brother we love anymore?"

Suddenly, fear struck everyone's hearts. Everyone stopped breathing. Sweat starting to form on each one of their foreheads. They hadn't thought about it before, but Lola was right… What if Lincoln… was different?

"N-no! You're just being paranoid, Lola!", Lynn exclaims.

She jumps up and looks at everyone as if they were crazy.

"Come on you guys! Lincoln… Lincoln can't be any different! It was just eight years. I mean look at us! We've barely changed ourselves!"

"But we weren't the ones sent to boot camp!" Lola stood up and faced Lynn head on.

"You weren't sent to boot camp for eight years. I wasn't sent to boot camp for eight years. NONE OF US WERE SENT TO BOOT CAMP FOR EIGHT YEARS! LINCOLN WAS!"

Lynn stared at Lola dumbfounded.

"I-I know, Lola. B-B-But it's Lincoln. He couldn't have changed. If he's different… then what was the point of waiting for him to come back? If he isn't the same loving brother he was before… What is the point of waiting for a douchebag to come home!?"

Silence again. Many of the girls started to shift uncomfortably in their spots. They didn't want to think about the possibility of Lincoln being different. Yet it was a huge possibility. It was more likely than not that Lincoln was not the same loving brother like he was eight years ago. Without any form of contact from him, who knew what Lincoln was now?

"And he was sent there… because of me…", Lola said with her face frozen in a shocked expression. The guilt came running back up her spine. She felt her knees give out.

"Linky's different… because of me…" Lana immediately jumped up off her seat and hugged Lola.

"Lola! What did I tell you? No one blames you! Don't you remember what Lincoln said before he left? He said he loved you so much. He said he never blamed you for a second! He-"

"Called you his princess." Lola and Lana looked up to see Lynn in front of them, smiling an apologetic smile. "Lola, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have accused you of being paranoid. You're right… it's a justifiable fear… What if Lincoln was different, right?"

Lynn hugged Lola.

"But I truly believe, Lincoln's still the same Lincoln we know and love. Don't you want to believe that too?"

Lola didn't even have to think about it.

"Yes. Yes I do, Lynn… You're right as well. I can't always look to the negatives…"

Luan spoke out.

"Exactly, Lola! Right now, let's not think of the bad stuff. Think of the fact that Lincoln's coming home!"

Luna also threw in her thoughts.

"Yeah! Besides, if our bro really is different… that just means we have to get to know him again!"

Lisa smiled and joined the conversation.

"Luna is correct. We should not chalk up Lincoln's difference as a negative. After all, what if it were a positive difference?"

Lucy took out a black journal.

"Differences are beautiful. Being the same is boring. So it's okay for him to be different."

Leni perked up as well and said her two pieces.

"Lucy's right! We'll still love him even if he is different!"

Lily took out two paintbrushes.

"I'll introduce myself to Lincoln and get to know him. I want to know more about my older brother! More than the brother he was eight years ago!"

Lori couldn't help but laugh at this newfound energy her siblings had found right after Lola and Lynn's little spat. She clapped her hands, getting everyone's attention.

"Alright girls. Now that we all feel better, why don't we order pizza?" Everyone cheered.

...

Everyone now was downstairs, doing whatever they do, while they waited for the pizza to show up. Lola still had a question on her mind that she had forgotten to ask during the sister meeting.

"Hey, Lori?" Lori looked away from her phone to Lola.

"Yeah, Lola?"

"Did Dad mention when Lincoln was coming home?"

"No, he just told us that Lincoln was coming home. I think I heard the person on the other line say something about him being released a week earlier…"

"D-Does that mean, it's possible for Lincoln to come home today?"

Lori smiled, but switched to a serious look as she looked at Lola.

"I wouldn't count on it, kid. We already used up most of our good luck today. I mean, we were told in the first time in years about Lincoln's whereabouts. And we also know he's on his way home. I don't think we could get anymore luckier than that."

Lola nodded sadly. She agreed with Lori, but she couldn't help but feel anxious. When was Lincoln coming home?

 ***Beep! Beep!***

Lori looked at her watch.

"Dang, my shift starts in thirty minutes. Save some pizza for me, girls!"

"We will!", everyone answered at the same time. Lori left the house and minutes later, a car could be heard driving away. Luan looked at Luna.

"Isn't it nice to have a day-off today, Luna?"

"Yeah, it is, Luan. After what I learned today, I feel like I need a two month vacation!"

"I guess that performing music for a bar every day of the week could lead to a bunch of "trebles" for you!"

Everyone in that room laughed. Usually they would groan at Luan's puns, but hearing her make them again at home was very soothing for them. It felt natural.

* * *

 ***BANG! BANG! TUTUTUTUTUTU!***

Right now, at eleven at night, something was going on at the pizzeria known as Dingo's. Police cars surrounded the building, and guns were shot left and right. A man in a ski mask was pointing his rifle at two shivering people, one who was an old man of white heritage who looked like he had worked all his life and the other a beautiful teenager, also of white heritage, who had brown short hair and lovely brown eyes, on the ground.

"HEY, COPPERS! GET ANY CLOSER, AND THESE FUCKERS GET IT!"

The police stopped advancing and stayed in place. The man smiled and turned his attention to the two on the ground.

"If one of you fuckers try anything, I'll blow your heads off, got it?!"

They nodded frantically. The man grabbed the older one and ran out of the back of the pizzeria to the front.

"OPEN YOUR REGISTER! NOW!" The old man quickly went to the register and started to unlock it. While he was unlocking it, the man noticed something strange in the corner of the shop.

It was a body, hunched over the table. It didn't seem as if they ate any pizza. They did have a cup of coffee next to them though. The man grabbed the old man to keep himself safe from the police and ran to the body.

He started poking his rifle at the body. "Hey! Get up! Wake up!"

The body stirred and was revealed to be a young man, drooling out of the sides of his mouth. How he slept through the gunfire was astounding to the man with the ski mask.

"*Yawn* Is it morning already? I'm incredibly sorry, sir. I didn't want to sleep- Hey it's still nighttime. Awesome. I didn't sleep too long then."

"Hey, fuckface, do you not see the gun in front of your face?"

The young man turned to the man with the ski mask and indeed saw the gun.

"I do see it. What's the situation, Doc?"

"The situation is you either get up and follow my orders or I blow your brains out!"

The young man yawned.

"Alright, alright… Show me the way to go."

The man got irritated by the young man's nonchalant attitude.

"You know… you're starting to tick me off. I only need one hostage to keep me safe. Maybe I'll set an example to the police of how cruel I really am by killing you."

"Set an example, huh?", the young man laughed, "Boy, those words really hit me hard."

"Yeah? Well it ain't gonna be as hard as this bullet that's-"

All of the sudden the young man sent an uppercut up towards the rifle, knocking it immediately out of the man's hands. Before he got the chance to react, the young man threw the remains of his coffee in his face. Although it wasn't hot, the man was blinded for a moment. And that moment was all the young man needed to get off his seat and tackle the man to the front counter. The police watched in surprise as they saw someone fighting back the man.

The man in the ski mask glared at the young man and took out a switchblade from his back pocket.

"W-WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?"

The young man smirked.

"Well I'm glad you asked! The name's-"

The man lunged at the young man, hoping to stab him directly in the gut. The young man moved to the side so effortlessly that it seemed as if he was just nonchalantly playing a game of tag with his siblings.

The young man grabbed the man's arm and twisted it so fast and hard that it broke instantly. The man screamed in pain and dropped the switchblade. He fell next to his rifle. He acted quickly and grabbed the rifle and took the shot at the young man.

 ***BANG***

Silence.

The man breathed heavily. He closed his eyes, thinking that it was over, and that he could go back to robbing the pizzeria. A stupid decision he made, honestly. He should have robbed the bank. Why did he choose a stupi-

"UUG!"

The man made a weird noise as his stomach felt as if it had imploded in on itself. He looked up and saw the young man smiling down at him, while having his fist in his stomach.

"That was for that cheap shot. Very, very disrespectful fighting, I must say."

The young man started to chuckle.

"I gave you such a good chance to shoot me anyways though… and you missed completely!"

The young man started to laugh like crazy as he moved his fist away from the man's stomach and placed it on his shoulder, as if they were old friends. The man just stared at the young man with fear apparent in his eyes. He saw that there was a hole in the wall behind the young man created by the bullet from the his rifle. He really had completely missed the young man.

The young man wiped away a tear.

"OHH Boy! That was a good laugh. Haven't had one like that in years!" He looked down at the man in the ski mask.

He stopped smiling and put on a serious face.

"You tried to kill me. I have somewhere to be, and I'm not going to let a scumbag like you keep me from reaching my destination."

The man looked at the young man more clearly. The fight was done in the dark, so it was hard for the man to see what the young man looked like.

He still couldn't make out the face of the young man, but he noticed… in the light of the moon… he had platinum blonde hair.

The young man formed his hand in the shape of a karate chop and chopped the side of the man's neck. As soon as it made contact, the man fell unconscious. The young man sighed, and turned around to check on the old man.

"Are you okay, sir?"

The young man offered a hand and the hostage took it with both his hands.

"THANK YOU SO MUCH! I REALLY CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH, KIND SIR!" The young man could clearly see the amount of relief the old man had.

"No worries, sir. Uhhhh, lucky for you I was here, I guess? Hahaha!"

The young man saw the other hostage come out from the back.

"W-what's going on, Dad?" The old man stood up.

"This young man saved us, Penellope! He risked life and limb to save our family business!"

Penellope started to tear up and ran to hug the young man. "THANK YOU SO MUCH!"

The old man also hugged the young man, making him feel uncomfortable but happy. Penellope sighed and let go of the young man, with her father following suit.

"We had an order for a bunch of pizzas too. Hours ago! I don't even know if they still want it, or if they had gotten them somewhere else." The father patted her shoulder.

"It's fine, Penellope! We'll get a customer that orders that many pizzas next time. We should just be happy we're alive right now!"

Penellope nods and agrees with her dad.

"Still, what a strange order. I mean, who calls themselves _The Loud House_?"

The young man stiffened. He looked at Penellope.

"I'm sorry, did you say, _The Loud House?_ "

"Yeah. They ordered, like, fifteen boxes of large pepperoni pizzas! It was amazing! We never thought anyone would order that much. And right when we were done with making the thirteenth one, it was already closing time. But before we got to close, that guy broke in and threatened to kill us!"

The young man walked over to the man and picked him up. Before he headed out the door to turn the man over to the cops, the young man turned to Penellope and handed her two one-hundred dollar bills.

"Keep the change. I'm paying for _The Loud House_ and I plan to deliver for them too, okay?"

Penellope looked shocked and could only nod.

"Also, could I have one of your uniforms? I have to play the part, right?", the young man asked as he walked out the pizzeria to deliver the man in the ski mask to the police, leaving Penellope and her father speechless.

They looked at each other and started laughing. They were sure as hell that they weren't going to deny him his request.

* * *

Midnight had struck. The Loud siblings were still waiting for the pizza to arrive, which was shocking to say the least. They should have given up hours ago, but they gave the pizza place the benefit of the doubt. Lori entered the house, and noticed that her siblings were still in the same positions they were hours ago.

"Umm... hey guys… Did the pizza arrive yet?"

"No! It hasn't!", Lynn shouted, "Did you actually order the pizza, Lori?"

"Of course I did, Lynn. But I did order a bunch of pizzas. Maybe that's why it's taking so long. I mean there are other customers after all."

"UGH!", Lynn fell back to the couch, making everyone laugh.

Lori squeezed between the various sisters on the couch and took a seat."Well it's probably for the best they're taking so long. I mean, I do have to pay for the pizzas after all, since i ordered them."

"Nonsense", Lisa stated, "We don't have to pay for anything if the pizza distributor presses our doorbell. The faulty wiring should be intense enough to scare him off."

The girls laughed and continued to amuse themselves as they waited for the pizza. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door, making the girls groan.

"I stand corrected", Lisa stated.

Hearing the groan, Rita and Lynn Sr. came out of their rooms.

"*Yawn* Hey, why is everyone up so late?", Lynn Sr. asked.

"We're waiting for our pizzas, Dad!", Lily replied.

Rita smiled. It was nice to see their kids not ignore their father anymore. The announcement of Lincoln's return really cheered them up. Lynn Sr. laughed.

"Really? Well I'd make a joke about pizzas, but it'd be too cheesy!" Everyone groaned, which made Lynn Sr. laugh like crazy. It was heartwarming for the Loud siblings to see their dad like that.

*Knock Knock!*

Lori laughed. "Well, I guess I do have to pay for the pizza. The Loud siblings took out some money from their pockets.

"Nope. We're chipping in too, Lori", Luna said.

"Yeah! We're like, totes, going to help you pay for the pizza!", Leni added.

Even Rita and Lynn Sr. took out some money.

"Of course, we'll help too, Lori.", Rita sweetly said.

Lori smiled. "Alright then, gather at the door so I can collect the money. I'll just tell the delivery guy to wait a little."

Lori opened the door, wide enough for the whole family to look outside the front door.

* * *

 **Wow. Sorry for the long-ass chapter there, guys. I promise, the next chapters won't be too long. Hopefully. Anyhow, thanks for reading! I hope you guys liked it! Leave a review and follow and favorite if you'd like to!**


	2. Return of a Loud

**Wow! I did not expect such a positive reception to the first chapter! Thank you all for your reviews and favorites and follows! It honestly warms my heart. Now I have to juggle college, this FanFiction, and Breath of the Wild.**

 **Anyways, here, have another chapter! I hope this one is either just as good as the first one or even better than it!**

 **Also, please read the author's note at the end! Thank you!**

 **P.S. : I updated Chapter 1 and fixed the whole spacing issue. Now there are no more big blocks of paragraphs. Hopefully.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2: Return of a Loud**_

"Hello! I've got fifteen pizzas for a… _The Loud House?"_ , the young man said.

Lori looked at the delivery man. He wore the classic Dingo's uniform, that being a blue dress shirt, black dress pants, and the hat with a pizza bobblehead dangling about.

She almost gasped at how handsome the delivery man was. He was somewhat taller than her, since she had to look up to him a little. His face was somewhat long and round, but not too long and not that round. It looked very smooth. He had freckles that just added to his looks. His eyes shined a beautiful blue that could be compared to that of clear waters reflecting the color of the sky. And his smile… oh god that smile… Those buck teeth made him even more charming. She hadn't felt this since the time she saw Hugh when he was tutoring Lincoln so many years ago. She repressed those feelings quickly.

"Y-Yes, that pizza is for us, sir. Could you please wait a little? I literally need to get the money from my family.", Lori asked. The delivery man smiled as he watched the family come closer to hand Lori the money.

He rose his hand to get everyone's attention. "Sorry, miss. But that won't be necessary." Lori looked at the man confused.

"Uh… what?"

"You don't need to pay for your pizza!", the delivery man cheerfully said.

"Uhhhhh… what?", Lori repeated. Now the whole family was confused by the delivery man's declaration. Lynn spoke out for them.

"But it must've cost us a lot of money! I mean, we ordered fifteen large pizzas!"

The delivery man laughed, confusing the family even more. "It actually _did_ cost you guys a lot of money."

"It _did_?", Lucy asked, noticing how the delivery man put a lot of emphasis on  did. The delivery man walked inside the house with an old looking briefcase, much to everyone's surprise, and placed the pizzas on the coffee table, with his briefcase placed next to it.

"Uhh sir? You can't just walk into our home...", Lynn Sr. said, worrying a little about his family's safety.

The delivery man turns to Lynn Sr. A somber look quickly appeared on the delivery man's face when he looked at Lynn Sr., but it also quickly disappeared before anyone could have noticed.

"I'm terribly sorry, sir. But I just had to put down the pizzas. They're pretty heavy, you know, since there are fifteen of them."

Lynn Sr. nodded, although he noticed how the delivery man didn't even break a sweat carrying all those pizzas.

The delivery man turns to face the entire family. "Anyhow, yes. The pizzas were very expensive. About two hundred dollars expensive. In fact, you would've had to pay for it, had it not been paid for already by a very generous individual."

Lori raised an eyebrow, becoming more and more suspicious of this delivery man. "A generous individual, huh? And who might this generous individual be?"

The delivery man smirked. "Take a guess."

Lola raised her hand quickly and waved it in the air frantically. "Ooh ooh, I know! It has to be one of the prizes I won from a beauty pageant that I don't remember about!"

"A good guess, but I don't think they'd send you fifteen pizzas for free if you won a beauty pageant", the delivery man chuckled.

Luan went next. "Maybe it was from some "weir-dough?" Hahahah!" This time everyone groaned, except for the delivery man who just laughed out loud.

"Hahaha! OHH Boy! Now that pun… that pun just stole a "pizza" my heart!" Everyone groaned even harder, while Luan laughed with the delivery man.

After they stopped laughing, Lisa spoke. "Could it have been one of my colleagues from Harvard trying to entice me to come live with him to further advance medical science?"

"Whoa… as cool as it would be to make medical science better... that guy sounds incredibly creepy."

Lisa smirked. "I agree."

Luna jumped in. "Could it be from Mick Swagger, sending it to us because he wants me to take his place on the band!?"

"Please, you don't need to be in his band to become famous. Your music is amazing. Trust me, I've heard it before."

As soon as the delivery man finished what he was saying, Luna started to blush furiously due to the delivery man complimenting her and her music. Everyone else had no idea who could have paid for fifteen pizzas for them.

"Give up?", the delivery man teased.

"Ugh! Yes, we give up!", Lori said, getting annoyed of the delivery man's games and teasing, "So would you literally just tell us who it was and leave? If you hadn't noticed, we ordered fifteen pizzas for a reason!"

The delivery man raised his hands in defense. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, lady! I'm terribly sorry for messing around. I haven't had so much fun in a long time, you know?"

The delivery man put his hands on his hips, as if he were a superhero. "The man who bought all of the pizza for you…"

He paused and went quiet for a few seconds.

"...Dramatic pause!… For effect, right?" Lori rolled her eyes as her siblings behind her snickered a little.

The delivery man continued.

"... was a man... by the name of… Lincoln Loud!", the delivery man declared. A familiar silence filled the Loud House.

The Louds froze. They couldn't believe what they heard. "A-Are you literally being serious?", Lori asked. The delivery man smiled and nodded. Lola jumped at the chance to ask the delivery man a question.

"If you wouldn't mind telling us, Mr. Delivery Man… do you know where is Lincoln now?" The delivery man laughed. Lori went red with anger.

"Hey, asshole! Don't laugh at my sister! You know, we've been waiting for that guy for eight years!" The delivery man stiffened when he heard Lori yell at him. He stopped laughing immediately and walked over to Lola with a genuine apologetic look.

He bent down to meet with Lola's eyes. "I'm really sorry. Today's been a really good day for me, and I haven't been able to keep my emotions in check. I deeply apologize for being insensitive about your brother." Lola nodded, seemingly forgiving the strange delivery man.

Lori pulled him up. "Alright, we know who paid for the pizzas now, so can you please leave?!" The delivery man turned to face Lori and pulled himself away from her grasp softly.

"Alright, alright! Let me just say one last thing to your sister! I didn't get to answer her question!"

"Fine, but make it quick."

"I will!" The delivery man brushed himself off. When he finished brushing himself off though, he faced Lori instead of Lola.

"Uhhh… aren't you going to look at Lola? She's the one who asked you a question, not me.", Lori asked with a hint of annoyance but mostly confusion. The delivery man had been playing some sort of game with her and her family this whole time, and she was getting sick of it. She just wanted him to leave so they could prepare for Lincoln's return. The idea that Lincoln paid for all their pizzas made her so happy. She couldn't wait for him to come home so she and her family can thank him. Heck, she couldn't wait for him to come home!

The delivery man smiled warmly, which made the entirety of the Loud House feel happy, for reasons they did not know.

It seemed that now he decided that he couldn't play games with the Loud family anymore. He put on a serious face, surprising Lori and the rest of the Louds. The delivery man spoke after seemingly trying to look for the right words to say. "Come on, Lori." A shocked look appeared on Lori's face.

"I-I never told you my name! W-Who are you?" The delivery man held her hands, making her blush.

"I'm someone who all of you know very well. Don't you recognize me?" Lori was stunned. She couldn't react because she was becoming smitten by the random man that came bearing pizzas for the Louds.

"A-Are you a friend of Bobby's?", she asked, trying not to stutter. The delivery man laughed, making Lori blush out of embarrassment.

"I am Bobby's friend I guess. Though it has been a long time since I've seen the guy."

Lori thought of every person she knew, but she just couldn't connect the dots. Neither did her family. The parents were worried that this delivery man was going to hurt their children somehow, while the sisters thought that the delivery man was someone confessing to Lori. "I really don't know who you are...", Lori said wholeheartedly.

She noticed the delivery man's smile turn into a small frown for a split second as if he were trying to figure out what to do next, only to quickly go back into a smile, indicating that he had come up with an idea right at that moment. "Maybe this will help." The delivery man lifted his hat, revealing his clean, well-kept, platinum blonde hair, with a familiar tuft of hair sticking up.

The Louds did nothing but stare at the delivery man for what felt like hours. They had finally placed the pieces together, completing the strange jigsaw of mystery that the delivery man had delivered to their household with the pizza. How could they not have noticed the moment the delivery man knocked on the door? Not many, if any at all, of the pizza delivery men that have come to the Loud House knock on the door. They usually would choose to ring the doorbell, as it was human nature to do the easier thing when it comes to addressing a household. The doorbell was also a more efficient way of alerting the family of someone being at the front door. But this delivery man immediately knocked on the door, showing that he either just knocks on doors in general, or he knew that the doorbell was faulty. It would be hard to believe that he would choose to knock on the door just because he does it in general, however, because he was holding fifteen pizzas. If it really was hard for him to carry that amount of pizzas, he would have definitely pressed the doorbell.

Another piece of the puzzle was how the delivery man looked. If he were not wearing the hat, the family would have recognized him immediately. But because he wore the hat, he was able to hide the one thing that had defined him the most from other people. His face had gotten much more mature compared to what it looked like eight years ago. It was amazing to the family how he grew into such a fine man. His face now was so mature and well-toned that they couldn't connect it to the cute and charming face of the boy he was eight years ago. The way he walked into their house nonchalantly, the way he addressed everyone with a polite yet humorous tone, it was finally clear to the Louds who this man was. This man… was the man that every Loud had been begging to come home for eight years. This man… was the little boy that helped keep the Loud House in order eight years ago by helping out in anyway he could. This man… was their long-lost brother… Lincoln Loud.

He started to feel a little awkward, what with his family staring blankly at him. The delivery man scratched the back of his head, chuckling a little. "Heheh… I know. I look really different now. Especially when the last time you saw me was eight years ago... But I still got this annoying part of my hair sticking up. So that hasn't changed. Although I got a little bit of this mullet thing going on..."

Lori touched the delivery man's cheeks, catching him off guard a little. She cupped them like she would a loved one's. "L-L-L-Lincoln? I-Is that l-l-literally you?" The delivery man held the hand Lori placed on his cheek. He chuckled lightly and couldn't help but tear up.

"Hey, Lori… It's *sniff* nice to see you again…" Lori placed her other hand on Lincoln's other cheek. She tightened her grasp on his cheeks, albeit not too tightly. Tears started falling down her eyes rapidly.

"N-N-No! T-This is a lie, isn't it!? You're just pulling a prank on me, huh? You're just one of Bobby's friends who dyed their hair white! You can't be Lincoln… It would be too good to be true..."

Lincoln pulled Lori into a tight hug. "Lori… this is no joke. I'm being serious now. It's me, Lincoln. In the flesh… I'm finally... back home..."

Lori whimpered and cried softly into Lincoln's shoulders. Lincoln closed his eyes and just let Lori cry on him. She let out every piece of sadness in her soul onto Lincoln's shoulder. All eight years of it. Finally, after so long, her wish had come true. Lincoln had safely returned home. To their home. To her family. To… her. She felt… whole again.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the rest of his family right in front of him, with all of them still having shocked looks on their faces. Lynn walked up first to Lincoln.

"L-Linc? B-Bro? I-Is that... really you?" Lincoln smiled and reached a hand out to Lynn.

"Hey, Lynn… Yeah… it really is me." Lynn grabbed Lincoln's hand as if it would disappear any second and immediately started to cry into his arm. She couldn't believe it. Her little brother was finally home. It felt so surreal to her. After eight years of not being able to play any sports with her adorably weak brother, she was shocked to see him return from boot camp so strong-looking and confident. She liked the new look Lincoln had.

She was so proud of him that she couldn't help but grab his hand immediately when he reached it out to her. However, after being comforted by his bed sheets for every night since his departure, being able to touch him and hold him close to her made her emotional, so of course she started crying.

Luan and Luna were dumbstruck. The delivery man who had gotten everyone uncomfortable and yet comfortable at the same time… was Lincoln?

"Of course…", Luan started to say to herself, "No wonder his laugh made my heart flutter… The only person's laugh that makes me feel like that… LINCOLN!" Luan charged into Lincoln and cried into his other shoulder.

It finally happened. The cute, lovable and supportive brother, the brother she had dedicated a freaking shrine to, had finally come home. She couldn't help but hug her brother tighter. He had grown so much compared to her mannequin of him. She was glad she didn't try and guess what her brother had looked like and made a mannequin of that. No version of him she could think of could match to the man he had become.

Luna thought about it for a second as well. "That's how he knows what my music sounds like… that's why he thinks I can make it big without the help of other famous musicians… It's because he was someone who has always supported me from behind the scenes…" Luna started running towards Lincoln. "YOU'RE FINALLY HOME, LINCOLN!"

She ran behind him, hugged his neck and wailed in his hair, tears from her eyes streaming down onto his neck. At long last, her little gentleman had come back home. The little boy that had supported her dreams to the point of truly believing that she could be one of the greats was by her side now as a young, handsome man. She couldn't believe it… After eight long years of desperately trying to get Lincoln off her mind, here he was now, regaining his position as the most important thing in Luna's thoughts. But this time, for the first time in ages, she didn't care.

Lincoln smiled as his older sisters hugged him tightly. He noticed quickly, however, that one of his older sisters was not hugging him. Rather, they were staring at him directly into his eyes.

Leni couldn't move. She didn't want to. She thought that if she tried to move towards Lincoln, that she would wake up and have to go back to her real nightmare that was reality. Leni shuddered when she saw Lincoln lift his free arm and offered his hand to her.

"Leni… it's me, Linky... I-I know I look really different… But… I still love you the same… unless..." Lincoln withdrew his hand, and a small fear entered his eyes. "D-D-Do you not l-love me anymore? Do you hate me for leaving and no-" Leni couldn't take it anymore. If this was a dream, she didn't care. Leni dashed over to Lincoln and grabbed his arm.

"HOW COULD I NOT LOVE YOU!? I TOTES LOVE YOU, LINCOLN!" As soon as she touched Lincoln she gasped. "L-Linky?" Leni started to touch Lincoln wherever she could, even though she didn't have much room to since her sisters were all over him. She reached over to Lincoln's face and cupped it. "Y-You're real? Y-You're not a dream?" Lincoln smiled and used his hand to cup Leni's face as well.

"Can't you feel the warmth of my hand on your face, Leni?" Tears started to form in Leni's eyes. Her brother was truly in front of her. After eight years of being lost in a depression that was the equivalent of a coma, her brother was finally in front of her. All the sadness she felt for those long, arduous years came full circle at that moment. She let the tears fall. Unlike most of her older sisters, she was always open to crying. But this was the first time she's ever cried so hard.

"L-LINKY!" Leni didn't just hug Lincoln. She started to plant kisses all over his face, surprising him greatly. When the other sisters hugging Lincoln noticed this, they felt a strange, envious feeling start to form.

Lynn stopped crying into Lincoln's arm and started to kiss him as well. Soon, every sister was kissing Lincoln all over, making him feel embarrassed.

"G-guys! G-geez…" The older sisters snickered and continued to kiss Lincoln, his red face turning even redder. They wouldn't let up. They've waited for him for so long, and he teased them when he had returned, so they decided to turn the tables on him. He smiled and hugged his sisters closer. "I missed you guys so much…" The older sisters happily returned the hug tenfold.

After the older sisters finally let go of Lincoln, with their tears dried and sniffs more quiet and calm, Lincoln's younger sisters walked up to him. Lincoln looked at them in shock. They had all grown up so much. He almost couldn't recognize them, had it not been for the fact that they pretty much acted and looked the same as they did eight years ago.

Lucy walked up to Lincoln. He chuckled. Lucy still looked exactly the same. The difference was that she was taller and wore clothes that fit her size and age. Lincoln stretched his arms wide, offering Lucy a hug.

"Hey, Lucy. It's me... Lincoln." Lucy stood still for a few seconds before suddenly jumping into Lincoln's chest. She started to cry into it.

"I-I-It can't be… *sniff* It's *sniff* not possible…" Lincoln brushed her bangs aside to look into her beautiful, blue eyes.

"I wrote a poem for you. Well I wrote millions of them at boot camp, but this was the only one I thought was most special and fitting for you." He started to recite a poem.

" _Lucy, my dear, lovely Lucy._

 _Born under a dark moon and nightmare._

 _I express regret for being across the sea_

 _Away from you so long, thought it was unfair._

 _But now, after many a moon_

 _I've come back to you, new yet same._

 _Will you love and forgive this loon_

 _For leaving you in such pain?_

 _Even if you will not forgive me_

 _I will not be angry_

 _For I still and will always love you_

 _Forevermore and forever true"_

Lucy smiled and hugged Lincoln tighter. "L-Lincoln…*sniff* you dunce… There's nothing that you need to apologize for… I love you." Lincoln reached down to Lucy's forehead and kissed it. "

"I love you too, Luce."

Lisa was next to Lincoln. She had walked up to Lincoln after his poem was done, teary-eyed. "B-Brother… I-I must apologize. All these years… If I knew you would soon recede from our view… I would have displayed more love to you. I should have supplied you with the love an older brother like you deserves. I truly do-" Lincoln grabbed Lisa and brought her close to him.

"Lisa… I never once thought you didn't love me. I know you had your own way of showing it. And just so you know…" Lincoln kissed Lisa's forehead. "I love you too" Lisa started to whimper and covered her face into Lincoln's side. Lincoln smiled. "Look at my little scientist… You grew so big and beautiful."

Lana slowly walked up to Lincoln, as if he were a lizard she was trying to catch out in the wild. Lincoln noticed her as soon as she was within his vicinity. "Oh my god… Lana…" Lana got a little scared. What if Lincoln expected her to grow out of her tomboy phase as a kid? What if he expected her to be a carbon copy of Lola when he came back? For the first time in her life, she felt insecure about herself…

"Is that you, Lana?", Lincoln asked.

Lana shyly nodded.

A wide grin grew on Lincoln's face. "You look awesome! You didn't change a bit! Well, physically you did. Hahahah! Come here! I missed you so much!"

Suddenly, every insecurity she felt left her thoughts and body. Lincoln didn't care about petty stuff like appearance. He loved her for being who she was. Tears started dropping down her eyes. She felt like she did eight years ago when she first heard that Lincoln was leaving them.

"L-LINCOLN!" Lana forgot that she was bigger than the girl she was eight years ago and jumped on Lincoln. If it was anyone else being jumped on by a teenage girl, they would have fallen down. But Lincoln didn't.

"Whoa there, Lana! I didn't think you'd miss me that much!" Lana looked at Lincoln angrily, although she wasn't very convincing since tears fell rapidly down her eyes.

"Stupid! Of course, I did! My big brother wasn't here to see me grow bigger! It wasn't fair for you to go to that boot camp. You missed out on everything… There were times I would go to your room to tell you something… and I would find you not there… I missed you so much. You had time for me that no one else had…" Lincoln smiled sadly and kissed her forehead.

"I know how you feel, Lana. There were times I would wake up early to run to the bathroom, only to find out there wasn't a bathroom to run to anymore. And everyday I wanted so badly to go home… I didn't get to see my sisters grow up. It hurts… a lot."

Lana hugged Lincoln tighter. "I-It's okay, Lincoln! N-Now that you're back… We can make new memories!", Lana said more cheerfully, even though a little amount of tears still dropped from her eyes. Lincoln patted her head.

"Of course! I wouldn't have it any other way."

Lola just stared at Lincoln. She's been waiting for the day he returned home for eight years. She wanted to apologize to him the moment he got home for making him go to boot camp. But here he was now, in person. Right in front of her. Just steps away. And she can't even move. Lincoln looked at her with a surprised expression.

"No way… If this is Lana… Is that you, Lola?", Lincoln asked as he focused his attention on Lola. She froze. She expected Lincoln to yell at her, explode at her for making him stay imprisoned for years. She flinched and closed her eyes, hoping Lincoln would get it over with fast.

"I didn't even recognize you! I was about to ask where you were… Y-You've become so beautiful, Lola!" That was not what she was expecting.

"W-What?", Lola asked confused. Lincoln smiled a genuine smile at her.

"I really wish that I could have seen you grown up. You really did stay a princess after all." Lola started to tear up as she walked up to Lincoln with her fists clenched.

"I-Idiot! You're supposed to be mad at me! I got you taken away for eight years!" Lincoln chuckled. He patted her head.

"What did I tell you on the day I got the punishment? I don't blame you. I never did. Even after those harsh eight years in boot camp… all I ever thought about was how much I loved you guys. My love for you and your love for me was what kept me alive there, Lola. I love you, Lola. Don't you love me?" Lola couldn't hold it in anymore.

"O-OF COURSE I LOVE YOU, LINCOLN!" Lola also jumped onto Lincoln, and, like Lana, he caught Lola without breaking a sweat.

Lola felt as if something that had kept her constrained finally loosened up and withered away. For all these eight years, she had accumulated the most guilt in her soul after Lincoln had left for boot camp. Everyday she would blame herself for the lost of their dear brother. It got to the point where she would have a nervous breakdown whenever she thought of how she was the one who got Lincoln into boot camp.

Now… Lincoln was home. Her older brother… the one who always played with her… the one who always did her bidding even though he disliked it so much… the one… who was always there for her. God, how she hated herself for making him go to that cursed-

Lincoln kissed her forehead, and continued to pet her head. "I can tell you've _really_ blamed yourself for what happened to me all these years, Lola. You're crying all your pain onto me right now."

Lola was now back in reality. He was right. She felt her cheeks wet with tears and mascara. Great, now her blush was going to be ruined.

"Lola…" Lincoln put a finger under Lola's chin and lifted her head up so she was facing him. "Listen to me", Lincoln continued, "Don't you dare ever hate yourself. I know it's hard not to… especially after eight years of feeling as if you were the cause of my situation. But I'll tell you now, and I'll keep on telling you until the end of time: You were not the cause at all. You have nothing to hate yourself for. You are the most beautiful and strong girl I know."

Lincoln chuckled a little. "Trust me, I would know. I've been to boot camp. I've seen some sh- poop." Lola laughed, even with tears still hanging out in her eyes.

"Linky! I'm *sniff* fourteen now! I can *sniff* handle some cursing." Lincoln laughed as well.

"I know, but that's the thing, Lola. I can never… ever… stop seeing you as my little princess." Lola smiled widely. She really did miss that calm and serene voice Lincoln put on whenever he was coaxing one of his sisters. She loved hearing it the most when it was directed at her.

She hugged Lincoln tightly. "I love you, Lincoln." Lincoln hugged her and all the younger sisters still hugging him, which was all of his younger sisters, tightly and close to him.

"I love you too, Lola. I love all of you. Words cannot describe how much I missed all of-" Lincoln stopped, confusing the girls.

"What seems to be the matter, Lincoln?", Lisa asked. Lincoln looked around.

"Where's Lily?", Lincoln asked worriedly.

The younger sisters looked around, as well as the older ones watching from the sidelines.

"U-Um.. I'm right here… Lincoln." Lincoln turned to the source of the sound to see a little girl walk out from behind his parents legs. His eyes widened as he slowly realized who she was. He softly let go of his younger sisters and walked over to Lily.

"Y-You're…-"

"Lily. I'm Lily, Lincoln. It's nice to meet you… u-um… I'm sorry, but I can't remember you clearly… so I'm kind of … I don't know…" The sisters, both older and younger than Lincoln, were shocked to see Lily like this. She was usually the most cheerful one. She was always excited to meet someone new. She was always happy to do new things where most girls her age would be afraid of doing something new. Now… she was being... shy? It was the first time the sisters have ever seen Lily act this way.

Lincoln fell to his knees, scaring his sisters, including Lily, who ran up to him. "L-Lincoln! A-Are you-" she stopped when she saw a waterfall of tears fall from Lincoln's eyes.

Lincoln tried this entire time not to cry. He teared up a bit when he revealed who he was to Lori, but other than that, he tried to stay strong. It was under the preface of some stupid pride he had as a man or something. He did the exact same thing when he sacrificed himself to boot camp for his sisters. And now, once again… just like the time he was packing up in his room and his sisters came in to apologize… Lily was the last straw that broke his dam.

"Oh *sniff*... Wow! Look at you! *sniff* I missed *sniff* so much… I didn't get to *sniff* watch you grow-" Lincoln had to stop talking. He covered his eyes with his arm and tried to stop crying so he could properly talk to Lily. His sisters and his parents were heartbroken at the sight of Lincoln breaking down.

Lincoln finally calmed down and looked Lily in the eyes. He rose his hand towards her face, but stopped before he could touch her cheeks. Lily could tell that he was asking her for permission before he touched her face. She smiled.

'What a gentlemen…', Lily thought. She nodded, granting Lincoln the right to touch her face.

Lincoln almost cried again, but he held it back. He placed her cheek inside his hand. His eyes were wide opened at this point, looking at Lily with such curiosity.

"Lily… *sniff*… I can't *sniff* believe it." Lincoln placed his other hand on her other cheek, holding her as if she were going to leave his hold at any second.

Lily liked his touch. She could tell that Lincoln was a very gentle guy just from the way he handled her and her sisters. She started to finally be able to grasp the idea of her older brother the way her sisters had described him to her. She could see now why he was what held the family together.

Lincoln smiled at Lily. "You've grown so big and pretty, Lily. I almost can't believe it… but... of course you would!" Lincoln stood up suddenly, standing straight with his hands on his hips.

"After all, you are a Loud like me!", he declared. Lily laughed at Lincoln's attempt to rebound from his previous attempt to try and talk to her, which in turn got everyone to laugh.

After she was done laughing, she looked up to Lincoln, who was still laughing, even with tears in his eyes. She smiled as she thought about all the new possibilities of having a brother by her side now.

"Lincoln?" Lincoln stopped laughing and looked down at Lily.

"Yes, Lily?"

"Can you promise me something?" Lincoln bent down to meet her eyes.

"Anything you want." Lily smiled widely at that declaration.

"Then… will you promise me… that you'll never leave us again?" Everyone gasped and looked at her shocked. Except for Lincoln. He looked at her dead in the eyes with a serious yet loving look.

"I promise you. This time, no matter what happens to me… No wind or rain, no fire and ice, no other force of nature that exists can ever force me now into leaving you, our sisters, Mom and Dad… everyone. This I promise to you, Lily."

Tears started to form in Lily's eyes. "Then… if you're not *sniff* going to leave… can you *sniff* be my *sniff* big brother again!" Lily started to cry loudly. She cried like the little girl she was meant to be. Because her family had been so broken, she had to be the cheery one. She had to be the one that brought hope to the family, by being mature and not asking for much. Stuff that a little girl should never have to do.

Although her older sisters tried their best to be there for her, she never really felt there was anyone who she could depend on. Now that Lincoln was back, and her family was finally happy again, she felt as if her long-lost brother was someone she could truly depend on. She can let herself be a kid again.

Lincoln immediately pulled her into a hug. He brushed her long hair and whispered his calming words into her ears. "Shh… Shh… Lily… You don't even have to ask. Of course I'll be your big brother. In fact, I've always been your big brother. You just couldn't see me until now. Rest easy now, Lily." Lincoln kissed Lily on the forehead, and that was what helped Lily calm down and hug Lincoln tightly.

"Welcome *sniff* back home, Lincoln." Lincoln smiled at Lily.

"It's good to be back home, Lily. Let's make some new memories, okay?"

Lily nodded furiously into Lincoln's chest, drying off the tears that haven't dried off yet.

After hugging Lily for a few more minutes, Lincoln let her go and went up to the last two people he had yet to approach: his mom and dad. Rita couldn't wait for her little boy to come to her so she ran to him.

"LINCOLN! MY LITTLE BOY!" If Lincoln wasn't strong, Rita would have tackled him into oblivion. Fortunately, Lincoln was built for this.

"Hahaha! Hey, Mom! I missed you so much!" Rita hugged Lincoln tightly. She absolutely missed seeing Lincoln around the house. Before this whole eight years debacle, she felt as if the girls were closer to their dad than her, and she was closer to Lincoln than the girls. It was just a family thing she figured. But when Lincoln was sent to boot camp, their family just fell apart. It wasn't a matter who was closer to the other. It was a matter of everyone loving each other in general. And no one wanted to show each other that same love they had shown eight years ago. Her children's spite and grief was directed to their dad, who had no choice but to take the pain. What else could he do? No matter how you look at it, he was to blame for Lincoln being sent to boot camp in the first place. But that didn't matter anymore. Now, her little boy was finally home. He had grown up so well. She was a little worried someone else had nurtured her boy in her place.

"I missed you so much, Lincoln…"

"I… missed… you too… Mom… Mom… I can't...BREATHE!..."

Rita immediately opened her eyes and saw that she was squeezing Lincoln to death. She let him go, and he instantly breathed for air. However, instead of getting annoyed at her, Lincoln laughed and initiated the hug this time.

"I love you, Mom…"

Rita smiled widely and hugged Lincoln back, albeit not too tight this time.

"I love you too, Lincoln. Welcome home, honey."

"It's great to be back, Mom. I really missed your cooking."

"Well, I'll cook up something later just for you, honey! But first, you've got to help the girls finish the fifteen pizzas they bought."

Lincoln smiled. "Yes, Mom."

Lincoln finally turned to his dad. Lynn Sr. had been frozen this whole time. He, like his family, was under the impression that some strange delivery man was making a ruckus in their house. He wanted to throw the guy out. But now… now the delivery man revealed himself as Lincoln. Lynn Sr. was not prepared at all for his return. He wanted to know in advance so he could get ready the best apologetic speech he can make ready and make his special lasagna for Lincoln to enjoy. But Lincoln had just come out of nowhere. He was so happy his only son was finally home. But then… he remembered why Lincoln was gone for so long.

Rita and the sisters watched as Lincoln stared blankly at Lynn Sr. Rita hoped that Lincoln would not resort to violence.

' _I taught that young man better than that_ ', Rita thought, ' _But he could have gotten a new psyche at boot camp… Please don't cause anything, Lincoln…_ '

Meanwhile, the sisters were split about what Lincoln would do.

Lori, Leni, Luna, Lynn, Lisa, and Lily felt that Lincoln would just ignore the dad and celebrate his return with them and their mom. Although they weren't as mad at their dad as they were four years ago, they still thought he deserved to be punished in some way.

Luan, Lucy, Lola, and Lana felt that Lincoln would take a violent approach and rough their dad up. The reason why their family and Lincoln have been suffering for so long was because of Lynn Sr. sending Lincoln to boot camp. They didn't want Lincoln to completely incapacitate their dad, but they just couldn't forgive him for what happened to Lincoln.

But both sides knew one thing: Lincoln had the right to do whatever he felt was right. He was stripped of so many things because of his dad sending him to that shady boot camp that it would be hard to believe Lincoln won't do something.

Finally, Lincoln made a motion that put fear in Rita and his older sisters plus Lisa and Lily. He closed his eyes tightly. He grit his teeth. He clenched his fists.

Lynn Sr. gulped. He had expected this for the last six years. He knew that being in boot camp for that long would completely turn Lincoln into someone that he never wanted Lincoln to become. He felt so guilty and so angry at himself that… he knew he deserved Lincoln's rage.

Lori, Leni, Luna, Lynn, Lisa, Lily and Rita ran toward Lincoln, hoping they could reach him in time to restrain him. Lori reached out her hand.

"Lincoln, wait! Don't-!"

Before they could reach him however, Lincoln disappeared from their sight, as if he were just a flash of light. He charged at Lynn Sr.

Lynn Sr. stood his ground and held his breath. He was ready. He could never understand the pain Lincoln must have gone through in those eight long years of boot camp. That's why he was ready now. Ready for his son to give him the worst beat down of his life. Ready for his son to take out his aggression on him. Ready for his son to be rid of his eight year rage and pain. Ready for-

His son to hug him?

Lynn Sr. opened his eyes to see Lincoln hugging him tightly and his family relieved but surprised.

"Hehe, I know this is a little awkward Dad… but… I missed you a lot. I missed having my dad be my father figure rather than some drill sergeant."

Lynn Sr. had a shocked face on. "B-But, Lincoln! Aren't you mad at me? You have every right to be mad at me, you know? I took you away from us! I took away your childhood!" Lincoln stopped hugging his dad and looked at him straight in the eyes.

"Of course I was mad at you, Dad.", Lincoln suddenly said with a cold tone, which chilled everyone in the room to the bone. Lincoln quickly went back to his normal self.

"But… I had eight years to think about it, Dad. I couldn't waste my time at boot camp being mad at you. I had to do… things in that camp. Things that took away any free time I had to think. I guess I just stopped caring. It didn't matter to me that you sent me to boot camp. What mattered to me now was being able to go home."

Lynn Sr. felt tears starting to build up in his eyes. "Lincoln, I-..I- I'm so sorry, Lincoln. Eight years… You were gone for eight years because of me! I'm a horrible dad! I don't deser-"

Lincoln put his hand on his dad's shoulder. "Dad. I didn't come home today to spite you. I didn't come home today to hate you and fight you. I came home… to come back to my family. You're part of my family, Dad."

Lynn Sr. fell to his knees. Tears fell down his cheeks.

Lincoln knelt down and hugged his dad again. "Dad… you're not a horrible dad. You kept this family in order during my leave. Although you couldn't keep the love, you kept them here. You still tried your best to gain their love back. You didn't mean to send me away for so long. You just wanted to teach your children a lesson about discipline. It wasn't your fault I was stuck there for eight years anyways..."

Lynn Sr. looked at Lincoln with a confused look.

"W-What *sniff* do you mean, Lincoln?"

Lincoln visibly cringed. "Right now… I don't want to talk about it…" Lincoln smiled. "For now, let's just… forgive and forget, huh? I want to start over with everyone here. Even you, Dad. Won't you give me a chance?"

Lynn Sr. finally hugged Lincoln back. "You don't have to *sniff* ask me that, son. I'm the one who *sniff* has to ask you that."

Tears fell down Lincoln's cheeks once again, as he finally had the closure with his dad he had wanted for eight years. "Then you already know my answer is yes."

Lynn Sr. started to cry out loud now. He was no longer whimpering. He let out a bellow that had been inside his soul for so long. He didn't deserve his son's kindness… yet his son gave it to him with some extra love on the side. He truly felt at peace for the first time in eight years.

Rita and the sisters, even Luan, Lucy, Lola, and Lana, started to cry at the beautiful scene in front of them. Rita ran up to the two and hugged Lynn Sr. fondly. It was at this moment that the sisters realized their brother had never changed after all. Although he looked dramatically different from the boy he was eight years ago, he was still the most kind and gentle boy they've ever met in their lives. They ran to the three and joined in the hug, creating a huge group hug.

For the first time in what seemed and felt like hundreds and thousands of years, the Loud family was finally together again in one big group hug.

* * *

After the group hug was over, Rita and Lynn Sr. went back into their rooms, leaving their girls to spend time with Lincoln. And spend time they did. Because it was two in the morning, they couldn't do anything loud, but they made up for it by having a pizza contest and seeing who can eat the most pizzas. Unsurprisingly, Lana won, with Lynn in second place, and Lincoln in third.

After that, they put away the leftover pizza for later consumption and decided to watch whatever was on at three in the morning. Every sister cuddled with Lincoln that night. They didn't want him to let go of any of them. It was one of the best nights of their lives. It also helped that it was the best sleep they've gotten in eight years.

The sun rose over the Loud House, indicating that it was morning now.

"*Yawn…*" Lori stretched her arms out as she slowly started to wake up. She looked at her sisters and smiled. It felt so nice to be able to connect to her younger siblings again. Home just felt so empty and lonely to her with everyone being so distant after Lincoln left. Now everyone was back together as a family. And it was all thanks to-

Lori's eyes widened as she quickly looked around for the white hair that stood out so well. Her erratic movements woke up the other sisters.

"L-Lori? What's wrong?", Luna asked as she watched her older sister look around the room.

Lori looked at Luna. Her face made Luna's stomach turn. It was the face of someone who had lost something. Or someone.

"W-Where's Lincoln?"

As soon as Lori asked that question, every sister started to rapidly look around the room to see their beloved brother. They couldn't find him.

Leni started to go into a meltdown. "I-I-I-It was a dream after all. O-O-Of course it was! Lincoln… Lincoln is gone. He's n-n-never coming back. J-Just like in my nightmares!"

Lori, Luna, and Lynn held Leni tightly. "Leni! Calm down. Please!", Lori said.

"Y-Yeah! We just saw Lincoln last night! There's no way it was just a dream!", Luna added.

"We all cried into him and became a family again. That wasn't a dream! And neither was Linc-"

 ***Creak!***

The sisters turned their attention to the door to see Lincoln come through the front door with a towel and dressed as if he were in the military. Sweat was all over his body, a sign that he had went early morning jogging or something. He looked at his sisters and smiled.

"Morning, girls! Sorry for not telling you guys I left… but I didn't have the heart to wake you guys up. You all looked so peacef-"

Leni tackled Lincoln into the wall and started crying heavily into his chest, scaring the pants off of Lincoln. The rest of the sisters soon followed suit.

"IDIOT! NEVER LEAVE WITHOUT TELLING US AGAIN!", Lola yelled as tears rushed down her eyes.

"YOU PROMISED ME YOU WOULDN'T LEAVE US, LINCOLN!", Lily yelled. She started to push him over and over, effectively shaking him while her tears fell down.

"DAMN TWERP! DID YOU KNOW HOW WE FELT WHEN WE WOKE UP TO SEE YOU WERE GONE?!", Lori yelled. She held onto Lincoln tightly, not to harm him, but to keep him from going away. She tried to not cry, but ultimately failed.

The rest of the sisters cried and bombarded Lincoln with hugs and requests to not leave them again.

Lincoln felt horrible as he watched his sisters cry. He pulled them all into a huge bear hug, surprising them and making them laugh. They didn't stop crying, but Lincoln had their attention now.

"I'm really sorry, guys. I didn't mean to make you feel like that. It's just… boot camp got to me hard, you know?"

The girls nodded, knowing that Lincoln had some sort of psychological routine built into him by the boot camp.

"S-Still… next time… don't just go somewhere without telling us.. okay?" , Luan said softly.

Lincoln held everyone's hands together. "I promise. Next time, I'll tell you guys."

The sisters smiled, and wiped their tears away.

"We'll hold you to it!", they all yelled at the same time.

* * *

Life became normal again at the Loud House. The girls forgave their father and let the past be the past, making Lynn Sr. cry again. Rita and Lynn Sr. celebrated by going to dance with each other in the evenings. The sisters started to talk to each other again like normal. Family nights became the norm again. Everyone was happy. The family had finally become a family again.

The neighborhood, funny enough, was a lot more happy now that the Louds regained that spirit they had eight years ago. And that spirit was able to come back to the Loud House thanks to Lincoln coming back as well.

The first week was hectic for the sisters because they didn't want to leave the house. Except for Leni, who didn't have to worry about being separated from Lincoln because she didn't have anything to do yet.

Lori and Luna wanted to email their professors to tell them that they were sick so they could stay home with Lincoln until their evening jobs.

Luan didn't have to worry about the morning since she only had stuff to do in the evenings, but she still wanted to cancel her gigs at the club in order to spend all the time she could with Lincoln.

Lynn wanted to call in sick to work, something that was unheard of at the school since Lynn never missed a day of work.

Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lily all wanted to skip school for just one week to spend time with Lincoln. Even Lisa wanted to skip school to hang out with Lincoln, even though she looks at school as something fundamental in their daily lives.

Their parents, as much as they didn't want to, had to tell them no, and that, as long as they are under their roof, they have to do what they say. So, Lori, Luna, Lynn, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa, and Lily unfortunately had to get ready to leave the house. As they left, they looked at Luan and Leni, who were cuddling with Lincoln on the couch, begrudgingly; they were jealous that they get to hang out with Lincoln all day.

They left like usual, with Lincoln curious how they left nowadays. Rita and Lynn Sr. took Vanzilla took their respective jobs, Lori and Luna drove in Lori's car to their college, and Lynn took her younger siblings and drove them to school, where she just so happened to work.

The rest of Lincoln's day amounted to Leni and Luan not letting Lincoln go anywhere except to the bathroom. They just cuddled with him on that couch for the duration of the first half of that week. Lincoln didn't mind though. It was the most kind and gentle physical contact he had in eight years. He needed this as much as they did.

When the afternoon came, the rest of the Loud family would come home. The first time they came home and saw Lincoln, they started to cry again. They really did think that Lincoln would never come home. Lincoln, feeling as if he had a new duty now, promised to give all his free time to his family.

Before he did that though, he asked Lana what happened to all the stuff in his bedroom that he had left behind. Lincoln didn't notice that Lana was kind of sweating when she was asked that by him. Lana nervously said that rats stole his stuff and that when she got rid of them, she found all his stuff had been ruined.

Lincoln was sad that all of his stuff he had as a kid was gone but smiled and rubbed Lana's head, making her smile. He thanked her for getting rid of the rats so they didn't have to call an exterminator to do it.

Lana kind of felt bad that she had to lie to Lincoln about it, but she didn't want to give up her night time blanket, even if it was his old orange polo. What Lana and Lincoln didn't notice was that Luan was right around the corner listening in on their conversation. She decided to find a way to conceal her shrine even more.

…

Days turned to weeks. Lincoln started to finally feel like a part of his family again. His family got less emotional around him and instead got more excited that he was around for them whenever they needed him. It started to feel like what it felt like before Lincoln had gone to boot camp. But somewhat better. However… he still couldn't tell them about his experiences at boot camp. They had tried to ask him about it, but every time they did, Lincoln would get eerily quiet. His body language was all his family needed to tell that he was still very uncomfortable talking about boot camp.

Lincoln stretched his arms as he sat up. Right now, it was early Saturday morning, and he had wanted to sleep in for the first time in eight years, but he was so used to his schedule at boot camp that he woke up early. Lincoln yawned, and sighed afterwards. He might as well go for his early morning jog since he was awake now.

He tried to get off the bed that he was on but felt something tighten around his chest. He looked to his left and saw Leni holding Lincoln as if he were a teddy bear. He smiled and brushed her hair, which caused Leni to smile as she slept.

The reason why he was sleeping in the same bed as Leni was because he just couldn't fit in his old bed anymore. He barely fit in his old room! So Leni decided that Lincoln would bunk with her until they find out what to do about Lincoln's situation. Luan wanted to argue with her about the sleeping arrangement, but she decided not to, since Leni had no way of coping with Lincoln's leave for eight years like she did.

Lincoln has been sleeping with Leni for about five weeks now. At this point, he feels that Leni won't even let him sleep somewhere else anymore. Leni doesn't even let him leave the bed until she wakes up. Lincoln didn't mind though. He layed back down and hugged Leni back, as the other person in the room watched them, since she was wide awake.

Lori had to admit that she also had been enjoying Lincoln's stay at their room. She enjoyed talking to him and seeing how shy Lincoln got when they were talking about his love life, which was completely different from his usual cocky and confident attitude. It was really fun for Lori to tease Lincoln about girls, something that he had been really deprived of at boot camp.

Lincoln hadn't asked her about her relationship with Bobby, so she assumed he thought they were married at this point, which was far from the truth. She decided that she'll tell him about their relationship now sooner or later. Lincoln certainly wasn't going to ask, but that was because he didn't want to pry into his sister's business.

Speaking of that, Lori, like everyone else, thought that Lincoln had turned into such a gentleman. He did everything he could to make everyone happy, even if he had to run to one room to the next. He thought of everyone else before himself, which his younger self had done as well, but his present self now had done it better, in the sense that he was a lot more mature and unselfish.

For example, Lori needed someone to get the supplies for one of her main dishes at the cafe she had left at home by accident at around ten at night. Most of her sisters couldn't make it because they were either sleeping or they didn't have a driver's license and they didn't want to walk at night to her cafe. Her parents were out that night dancing.

But in half an hour, Lincoln had arrived at the cafe with all of her supplies. He couldn't even drive because he never got his driver's license so he had to run all four miles to her cafe. He didn't look like he had much trouble with getting there, but Lori thought it was heartwarming how Lincoln ran all the way just for her. Afterwards, Lori drove Lincoln home, thanking him with some ice cream, which he happily ate, with the condition that Lori ate some with him.

Lori stopped staring at her two sleeping siblings across from her and looked up to the ceiling. She didn't want to say anything to Leni, who was so happy to have Lincoln sleeping in her bed, but she kind of felt envious that she got to sleep with Lincoln. Lincoln was such an amazing guy. He made everyone so happy. He made his sisters happy. He made… her happy.

Lori held her breath as she thought about how things may have turned out if Lincoln slept in her bed instead.

Would she really just hug Lincoln? Would she really just sleep next to him?

Lori thought about Lincoln's new physique. How handsome he had gotten. How strong he had gotten. How he seemed like he could do anything and everything.

Lori thought about his maturity and unselfishness. How kind and dependable he had gotten. How loyal he had become. He had the qualities of the most perfect man on the planet.

Lori didn't notice, but her hand slowly crawled down her stomach, as her breath started to leave her mouth more rapidly.

Wouldn't she rather strip him down and see how well he had grown? Wouldn't she like to touc-

Lori snapped out of it. She sat up and stared wide-eyed at herself in the mirror. 'WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING ABOUT!?', Lori thought to herself as she clutched her head.

And thus, the first forbidden seed had been planted.

* * *

 **Alright guys, here's the deal. When I started to write this FanFiction, it really was going to be just a trashy FanFic. I didn't have a plan for it, so at first, I just wanted to give everyone just one chapter to get it on with Lincoln and then that was it.**

 **However, because of the overwhelmingly positive reception I got from the first chapter, I decided you guys didn't deserve a trashy harem that you could probably find anywhere. I wanted to give you guys the best damn Loud House Harem story you'll ever read, and goddamnit I will! Even if it is my first FanFic!**

 **So the bad news and good news.**

 **The bad news is that the next chapter will take somewhat longer to write. The reason why is because now I want to be serious about this FanFic and think about whether or not this will ruin characters, whether or not this will leave a plot hole open, and so on.**

 **The good news is that to make this a good Loud House Harem, I'm going to develop the romance between the Lincoln and his sisters and whatever other girl I'll add to the thing. So no rushing of romance.**

 **To develop the romance without rushing it all in one chapter, I decided to create arcs for all the girls that Lincoln will have in his harem. The arcs may consist of two or more chapters depending on how much I decide to pack into one chapter.**

 **The first arc, which is Lori's, is a little hard for me to write right now because I'm trying to come up with the overall plot for her arc. But I'm working on it! In fact, as of right now, I'm almost done! When I'm done, I just gotta type it out and boom!**

 **Once again, I thank you guys for giving my story a chance. I'll do my best to not let you guys down.**

 **-Devumaru**


	3. Lori's Arc Part 1

**Hello, my lovely readers! I've returned with chapter three of** _ **Loving Return**_ **! This chapter will be the start of the** _ **Lori Arc**_ **, properly named:** _ **Fall of the First Forbidden Flower**_ **! I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

 ** _-Fall of the First Forbidden Flower Arc: Part 1-_**

Lori slowly closed her bedroom door to keep Leni and Lincoln from waking up. Since it was still pretty early, Lori decided to go outside and rest her mind on the Loud House porch. She walked down the stairs as softly as she could, but even then she couldn't keep the old stairs from creaking loudly every two or three steps. Fortunately, Lori didn't think anyone had woken up from that. She sighed with relief. She made her way to the door, left the Loud House and sat on the porch stairs.

The mornings in Royal Woods were not much to talk about. They were very cloudy and cold, sometimes there would be a fog that engulfed everything, making it hard to see anything in front of you that is not directly up to your face. But for this moment, Lori thought it was perfect, as she stared blankly into the greyish white void. Lori looked at her hands with an annoyed look on her face, before suddenly clenching her head. She yelled to herself.

"What's wrong with me!? Was I literally about t-t-to do that!? With Leni just a few steps away from my bed!? With Lincoln sleeping in the same room as us!?"

As soon as the thought of Lincoln entered her mind however, the familiar sinful feeling started to arise. She tried clenching harder, hoping that these lustful feelings would just go away. How could she be having these thoughts? Not only did her little brother finally come home just a few weeks ago, but he's her little brother!? It was wrong!

But even when she knew it wasn't right, the thoughts still made a full formation inside her head. All she can think of now was how handsome Lincoln had become. Eight years had made Lincoln into such a hunk. Lori had never seen someone look just as good as Lincoln did. No one she had ever seen or met at college or at work during the span of eight years could even compete with Linc-

"STOP! I CAN'T THINK LIKE THIS! JUST STOP, LORI!", Lori yelled under her breath. She tightened her grip on her head, thinking that if she just gripped her head harder, these lustful thoughts of Lincoln would just squeeze out of her mind.

"L-LINCOLN... HAS TO… GET OUT… OF MY-"

Suddenly, the sound of alarms rang inside the Loud House. The sudden rise and decline in noise shocked Lori out of her thoughts and her arms quickly went to her sides in a defensive position. She looked around her and noticed that it was considerably much more brighter than it was earlier. Did she really fight with her thoughts for that long? Well, it didn't matter now. It was time for her to go back inside and race to the bathroom. Her sisters had gotten pretty energetic again, so the morning bathroom run became the norm once again.

Lori walked back inside the Loud House, a little weary from her fight with her inner desires.

…

The Loud siblings ran downstairs, excited to eat breakfast once again with Lincoln. Although Lincoln's return was a few weeks ago, the Louds were still on a happy high, with the sisters trying as much as they can to spend time with him, Rita wanting to baby him, and Lynn Sr. wanting to do father-son stuff like playing catch with him. If Lincoln had been anyone else, he would have collapsed due to exhaustion. But he wasn't just anyone; he was Lincoln, and his goal was to make sure his family was happy.

The sisters reached the table and watched as their mom came out of the kitchen, holding freshly made pancakes with a side of bacon and eggs. Rita and Lynn Sr. had decided that because every one of their kids had grown mature and older, they would get rid of the kid table and buy a longer and bigger table to fit everyone. However, only a few people would ever sit at the table when Lincoln was sent to boot camp. Ever since his return, everyone was always there at the table. Sometimes, they would even fight over who got to sit next to Lincoln that day.

"Morning, Mom!" "Hey, Mom!" "Thanks for the grub, Mom!", the various sisters yelled.

Rita warmly smiled as she watched her children grab their food from her. Rita finally thought that life in the Loud House was back to normal. Well, as normal as it can get. Her children were acting like they had eight years ago, albeit a bit more mature. She and Lynn Sr. have been a lot less stressed out and much more cheerful, which did wonders for their love life. But Rita couldn't help but wonder when this happiness high would wear off. There was no way her children would stay this happy for any longer, right?

' _No, I'm wrong',_ Rita thought to herself, _'They can stay happy for this long. They'll probably be happy for even longer. Lincoln was gone for eight years. Words can't describe how much Lynn and I are happy to have him back. So if I think about how his sisters were so close to him eight years ago… Then it makes sense they can't help but be so happy to have him back home with them.'_

Rita poured some coffee for Lynn Sr., who was reading a newspaper at the table. He smiled at Rita.

"Thank you, dear. Um.. Good morning, kids!"

"Morning, Dad." "Good morning, Dad..." "Salutations, father.", the various children said.

The older sisters, excluding Luan and including Lisa and Lily, said good morning to their dad normally. They had forgiven their dad for his mistake not just because they let the past be the past, but also because Lincoln forgave him. The younger sisters, plus Luan, had a harder time forgiving their dad. They talked to him again because they knew it would make Lincoln happy to see the family together, but they knew that deep down inside of them, they still fought with the inner turmoil that was the issue of forgiving their dad.

Lynn Sr. smiled. Although he knew that some of his children had not forgiven him completely, he was still happy to be able to hear their voices again. His smile, however, turned quickly into a confused frown when he realized that two of his children were not at the table for breakfast.

"Where's Leni and Lincoln? It's time for breakfast!", Lynn Sr. declared.

The Loud siblings and Rita looked around for a bit until Lori spoke out.

"They're probably still sleeping. Leni literally doesn't ever want to let go of Lincoln, so she's been going back to sleep every time she wakes up. Lincoln hasn't been able to sleep in for eight years, so he's just sleeping to his heart's desires."

Her sisters looked content with that answer, but Lynn Sr. frowned.

"Breakfast is breakfast, Lori. It's the most important meal of the day!"

Luan started to smile and snicker a little. She picked up one of the butters for her pancakes, and tapped her spoon to her glass to get everyone's attention.

"Honestly, I agree with Dad... We shouldn't let Leni and Lincoln sleep in for too long. It's not healthy to sleep all day. So Lori... "butter" wake them up!"

As soon as Luan said that, everyone groaned, causing Luan and Lynn Sr. to laugh hysterically.

Lori held the ridge of her nose.

"If it'll get me away from any more puns at the table, I'll go wake them up."

Everyone laughed as Lori went up the stairs. She smiled when she heard them laugh. She would be lying if she said it wasn't nice to spend time with her entire family again. She also would be lying, however, if she had told them she wanted to go wake Leni and Lincoln up. She didn't want to see Lincoln right now, after what had happened to her this morning concerning her thoughts on Lincoln. But it was her room they were sleeping in, so she felt obligated to go wake them up.

Lori opens the door and walks up to Leni's bed. Leni still had her sleeping mask on, snoring softly into Lincoln's chest. Lincoln, on the other hand, was hugging Leni, as to keep her from crushing him to death in their sleep. Lori couldn't help but look at the two in annoyance.

Even though she loved Leni dearly, she wanted her to do more than just stay at home all day. She understood it before when Lincoln was gone and she went through a depression; but now, Lincoln was back home. Leni is out of her funk. Now she has to go back into being a member of society like the rest of the family. However, her excuse was that she needed to take care of Lincoln until he felt comfortable being around Royal Woods. Lori thought that her excuse was stupid, but her parents allowed Leni to stay home until Lincoln told her personally that he was comfortable.

However, Lincoln was terribly weak to his sisters whims. Whenever they had wanted or needed him for something, Lincoln would drop whatever he was doing and go do their bidding. Even Lori was also guilty of making Lincoln do something for her on many an occasion. But when it comes to anything to do with Leni, Lincoln is surprisingly even weaker. Whenever he tried to tell her that he was already adjusted to life at Royal Woods, Leni would look at him with puppy-dog eyes, causing Lincoln to avoid and change the subject to something that would make Leni happy, such as complimenting her looks that day.

Lori sighed and shook her head. Although there were things that annoyed her about Leni and Lincoln, she couldn't help but not want to wake them up. They looked so happy and peaceful. However… breakfast calls. Lori puts her hand on Lincoln to shake him awake. When that didn't work, Lori decides to shake him and call his name at the same time. But that still didn't wake up Lincoln.

' _Ugh, Lincoln won't wake up. He must have been tortured by that boot camp to still be this tired.'_

As she tries shaking Lincoln all over, her hands go over Lincoln's broad shoulders, stopping Lori in her tracks. She notices how tough and hard his shoulders feel. Sinful thoughts enter her mind.

' _Not again… STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS, LORI! THIS IS LITERALLY GETTING OLD!'_

However, Lori lost the fight with her inner desires this time, as the man making her go crazy was right in front of her. Lori's face started to blush as she rubbed Lincoln's shoulder, feeling every muscle she could. Slowly but surely, her hands started to wander all over Lincoln. She could feel herself stop breathing whenever she felt something hard and rigged. Lori soon found that her favorite spot to rub was Lincoln's abs. She loved the feeling of tracing her fingers down the outline of his abs through his shirt. As she dragged her finger down Lincoln's abs, her breath started to grow in speed, rapidly moving in and out of her mouth. She circled her hand around Lincoln's stomach area.

' _I-I don't think Lincoln is going to wake up anytime soon… So… maybe… just a quick peek… just a little peek… under his shirt… Oh god…'_

Lori started to lift up the barrier that concealed Lincoln's abs from the view of the world around it. But before she could fully lift it up, she saw Leni shift a little. Lori acted quickly and moved her hands away.

"L-Leni! Are you awake now?"

Leni finally let go of Lincoln and sat up. She yawned as she stretched out her arms and took off her sleeping mask.

"*Yawn* Yeah, I'm, like, totes up now, Lori. Sorry for sleeping in again. But I just didn't want to, like, let go of Linky here~", Leni said as she ruffled Lincoln's hair.

"*Sigh* Yes, Leni. I literally know. You've been doing this for the last week. But whatever, it's time for breakfast. Could you wake up Lincoln and get ready?"

"I could totes do that, Lori!", Leni cheered.

Lori nodded and was about to leave the room when she heard the sounds of… kissing?

She turned around and saw that Leni was in the middle of kissing Lincoln's face everywhere she could, while at the same time, purposely avoiding his lips.

"LENI! WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING!?", Lori screamed.

She thanked her lucky stars that everyone was making a lot of noise downstairs, so they couldn't hear her screaming.

Leni looked at Lori confused.

"I'm waking Lincoln up like you asked?"

"WHY ARE YOU KISSING HIM!?", Lori screamed, understandably less loud.

Leni put her finger to her chin and seemingly started to think. Once she thought of an answer she looked at Lori with a wide smile.

"Well, I did this last Monday and Lincoln was able to wake up because of it so I, like, totes decided to do this to him every morning."

"EVERY MORNING?"

"Yeah!"

"HOW HAVE I NOT NOTICED!?"

"I don't know. You always leave the room before Linky and I wake up. Ever since he started sleeping here… I think?"

Lori clenched her hands and teeth and started shaking a little. But before she could lose herself, she breathed in and out deeply. Lori looked at Leni dead in the eye.

"Don't you think what you're doing is wrong? I mean, not only is Lincoln your little brother, but he's an adult now! You shouldn't be babying him!"

Leni frowned. She held the sleeping Lincoln closer to her.

"But Lori! No matter how old Lincoln will get, he'll always be my little brother! Also, kissing is, like, totes okay! I couldn't get him to wake up after making him sleep in more often, so if kissing him wakes him up then it's, like, totally fine!"

Lori had to agree with Leni on some parts. She was right. No matter how old Lincoln got, he'll always be everyone's younger or older brother. However, Lori still felt odd about Leni kissing him awake. It made her heart feel heavy and her emotions all riled up. She felt… mad at Leni? She had no reason to be mad at her… but she was mad at her. Over the fact that... she was kissing Lincoln… instead of h-?

"Besides, Lori, I don't kiss him on the lips! That spot's only for someone that he loves. Like, not just normal love; true love!"

Lori, although feeling uncomfortable about this whole situation between Leni and Lincoln, made the decision to let it slide. As much as she thought it was wrong, she knew that Leni didn't think the same. She perceived it as just a loving notion to Lincoln, whereas people outside of her perspective would see otherwise. Leni was honestly too kind-hearted and naive for her own good. Maybe it was a good move on Leni's part to not try and be a part of society when Lincoln came home…

"Alright, Leni… It's fine. If it wakes Lincoln up, go for it.", Lori shrugged.

"Okie dokie, Lori!"

Before Leni could go back to kissing Lincoln, however, Lori put up her hand, signalling to Leni that she had one last thing to say.

"Just… don't do that when I'm in the same room, okay? If you're about to "wake Lincoln up", please, tell me to leave."

Leni nodded happily and waited patiently for Lori to leave the room. Lori quickly left the room and silently closed her door as fast as she could. She placed her palm on her forehead.

"Ugh… Leni… Dang it…"

Lori couldn't help but feel a strong and small tinge of jealousy enter her. Leni was lucky. She got to hug Lincoln at night. She got to sleep with him. She got to wake him up in the morning. She got to kiss him all over. She got to hold that amazingly ripped and strengthened body of his. She got to openly love Lincoln as if he were her boyfriend. She got to-

"Lori? Is everything alright?"

Lori immediately stiffened when she saw Luna call out her name from the bottom of the stairs.

"Y-Yeah, Luna! Sorry, it literally took all morning to wake those two up! They're getting ready for the day."

"Okay… well, tell them to hurry up! Their breakfast is getting cold!"

"I will, Luna!"

She thought that after that answer from her, Luna would leave. However, Luna came running up the stairs. She didn't notice how stiff Lori was because she was occupied with the strange envelope in her hands.

"Oh yeah! Something came in the mail for you, Lori! Here ya' go!"

Luna reached out the envelope to Lori, who relaxed herself to keep Luna from noticing her stiff demeanor and took it with a questioned look.

"T-Thanks, Luna? An envelope for me? I wonder what is it?"

Lori opens the envelope and pulls out a document that looks very extravagant and overly decorated. She reads over for a bit, with Luna awkwardly standing in front of her, hoping to know what the document states. All of the sudden, Lori's eyes widen and a big smile grows on her face. Luna gets a little uncomfortable seeing this, as Lori usually either has a nonchalant expression or occasionally a small smile.

"L-Lori? Is everything all-"

"YES! I MADE IT! WHOOOOO!"

As soon as Lori cheered out, her entire family ran to the source of the sudden loud noise. Even Leni and Lincoln rushed out Lori's room to see what was all the commotion. They were surprised to see Lori dancing in place as she held the document tightly in her hands.

"What's going on, Lori?", Rita asked worriedly.

"Yeah, Lori! Why did you just suddenly yell?", Lola asked a little annoyed, "I was in the middle of doing my makeup!" She indicated this by showing the lipstick that was smeared across her face from the left end of her mouth to the right side of her cheek.

Lori looked at her family excitedly, somewhat scaring them, causing them to move back a little.

"I literally just got accepted into the Royal Woods Cake Competition!", Lori cheered.

She continued to cheer and dance in place, while her family looked at her blankly. They all had shocked looks on their faces for a little before they had changed quickly into faces full of glee and excitement as well. The Loud family immediately rushed over to Lori and hugged her tightly. Lincoln did as well, but he was a little confused as to what was going on. All he knew was that Lori get accepted into something big. And that was all he needed to know.

"Congratulations Lori!" "Way to go, Lori!" "I knew you can do it!", everyone cheered.

Lori hugged them back as much as she could. After some time, the family dispersed from the hug, and Lincoln thought this was the perfect time to ask what was going on. However, before he got to ask Lori what happened to her, Lana threw a question at Lori.

"What do you have to do to prepare for the competition, Lori?"

"Well, I'll have to come up with the perfect cake for the theme of the competition, which happens to be "Nature". I'm a little worried though. I'm going to be surrounded by other really good bakers from all around the world… I'm nowhere near their level. I'm not sure if I could even compete with them...", Lori stated, her cheery demeanor slowly turning into a more tired and disappointed one.

"But of course you can, Lori! You've been baking cakes for seven years now! Your cakes are always the special at the cafe that you're the manager of! And you've been working yourself to the bone to get into that competition! There's no way you can't compete with those big-named bakers! You're just as good as them!", Luna declared.

Lori smiled at Luna, thankful for her words, but it wasn't enough to get Lori away from her negative thoughts. Her family looked at her worriedly, wondering what they can say to cheer Lori up. Lincoln, now understanding what was going on, decided to speak out to Lori.

"Lori, I think you shouldn't be worried."

Everyone turned to look at Lincoln. He smiled warmly at Lori, putting his hand behind his head.

"I think that the fact that you were accepted by something as big as this means much more than you think. Many people other than you tried their best as well to get into this competition. But out of all the people who could have been chosen for this competition, they chose you with a bunch of other famous bakers. That says a lot about who you are, Lori. You fit the description for this competition perfectly. A hard-working baker, who's starting at the bottom and busy with college, creates cakes that people such as her customers love and say are out of this world? Sounds like a baker who is on the level as the world-renowned bakers, wouldn't you say, Lori?"

Lori wanted to cry at Lincoln's kind and calm words. The Louds cooed at what Lincoln had said to Lori. Lincoln blushed a little, feeling embarrassed, but still serious about what he said to Lori. Lori stood up and clenched her fist.

"You're right, Lincoln and Luna! I can't just back down now! Who cares who those bakers are! Not only have I been baking for years now, but I still absolutely love baking! I am on their level! And when I win this competition, everyone will see that I really am on their level!", Lori declared, head high and hands on her hips.

Her family cheered her on, encouraging her even more. Leni put her finger to her face in confusion.

"Why are we talking about bacon when this is about Lori's cake competition?"

Everyone groaned, but ended up laughing afterwards. Lori started to think a little, indicated by her putting her hand to her cheek.

"The paper says that the competition is next week… I somewhat have an idea of how to make my cake look, but I'm not sure if it fits the theme of the competition… I'll need some help with making my image of my cake come to life. Can I ask you guys to help?"

The Louds smiled at Lori.

"Of course!"

…

Lori was standing in the Loud House kitchen, getting ready to literally bake the best darn cake she could. She put on her favorite apron, which happened to be a white one, with pink frills around it's edges. It also had a cute picture of an otter's face on the chest part of the apron. Her mother had gotten it for her the year she had broken up with Bobby on mutual terms and Lincoln's departure. She encouraged Lori to try and distract herself from all of the negativity and focus her abilities on something new. Thus, she learned how to bake. She learned how to bake all sorts of things, like biscuits and custards. But the one thing that she loved to bake the most… was cake. It was just a simple yet so extravagant food. She could make a normal cake, or she could decorate it into something magnificent. She absolutely loved the feeling of creating a cake out of nothing but the ingredients and her imagination.

"Alright, I'm ready, Lori!"

Lori turned to see Luna walk in with her own apron, that being a normal black one. Her parents would have helped, but they almost forgot that they had told their bosses that they wanted to work overtime on the weekends to get extra money to take the family somewhere nice to celebrate Lincoln's return, so they went off to work. Everyone else decided to use their Saturday to help out Lori with her cake competition preparation. Before Luna could walk in the kitchen, Lori also noticed, however, that Luna was wearing some an earbud in one ear.

"Um… Luna?"

"Yeah, Lori?"

"You're going to be literally paying attention to my directions the whole time, right?"

"Of course! Sorry, Lori, but since Lincoln came back, I wanted to catch up on the rock music of today. Turns out it's gotten pretty good! I'm listening to "Devotee" by the "Envisioned Flying Reptiles" right now, and it's one of my favorites right now!"

Lori smiled. She was happy to see her younger sister get back into a genre of music she loved. But she was still a little worried. Luna saw that Lori was still a little unsure of having her work with Lori with earbuds on.

"Hey, sis, don't worry about it! I don't like to brag, but I'm pretty good at multi-tasking! I'll listening to both my music and your directions, okay?"

"I'm not sure if you could even listen to me while listening to music… But I do need help… Alright then, I'll trust you."

Luna widely smiled as she and Lori walked over to the kitchen counter to look at the foam prop of a cake. It was pretty much the shape and size of a normal competition cake. But Lori didn't want to just make a normal cake.

"Okay, Luna. This is just the cake prop. We'll be using it to help us envision what the ideal cake would look like. And the ideal cake in this case must be in the theme of "Nature"... I've got some ideas of what the cake should look like, but I don't know if i need to add more or add less. This is where you come in, Luna. I need you to help me by adding or taking out whatever you see fit to make this cake best for the nature description, okay?"

Lori turned to Luna to see her eyes closed as she was jumping up and down, apparently holding an invisible, soundless guitar. Lori looked at Luna with an annoyed look until Luna noticed that Lori had stopped talking. Luna looked at Lori sheepishly.

"Hehe, sorry, Lori… This song just got me going, you know? I promise I'll pay attention this time."

Lori sighed. She explained it all to Luna again, who sort of was listening but also bobbing her head up and down to the beat inside her earbuds.

"Got it, Luna?"

"Of course, love! I've got this!"

Lori smirked and took Luna over to the counter with a bunch of piping bags filled with a specific color of frosting, labeled frosting. Near the bags was another piping bag that had a light green coloring, labeled icing. She picked up the one labeled icing.

"Alright, I'm going to start coloring the cake. While I do that, I want you to imagine a natural setting. Something that can make this cake scream "all-natural", okay?"

"Alright!", Luna said as she couldn't help but air guitar to the song she was listening to.

Lori nodded and started to apply the light green icing covering, making the entire prop of the cake green. Once she put on the finishing touches, she placed down the piping bag and looked at Luna. Luna looked deep in thought, which made Lori happy. Maybe Luna really could help her with this.

"I got it, Lori! This is what's "all-natural" to me!"

Luna grabbed the purple and black colored piping bags and started working. Lori looked a little nervous, wondering what in nature was the dark colors of purple and black.

"O-Oh, Luna! You're right! I can see it now. Purple and black flowers, growing in the green fields that is the grass of life and nature!"

"Flowers? Nah, Lori. I'm talking rock, girl!"

"R-rocks? Well, I guess crystals and stuff are a part of nature…"

"Not rocks, Lori. Rock-"

"Oh no."

"-AND ROLL!"

Luna started to design the cake in her vision, which turned out to be a green cake, with purple lining covering the edges of the cake. The black frosting was used to draw black triangles onto the cake, contrasting the green cake, making it pop out more to the eye. Luna finished the cake off by filling in the black triangles with the purple frosting and drew the shape of a guitar on the very top of the cake.

"How's that, Lori?"

"Luna… I'm literally aiming for a nature-themed cake. WHAT… is natural about this?"

"Uh… I-It feels natural to me? Hehe?"

…

Lori sighed. After she painstakingly cleared of the purple and black frosting with a hot spatula, she told Luna that she didn't need her help anymore. She didn't yell at her and get mad though. She's an adult now. Those times when she got mad at her siblings for not listening to her felt like ages ago.

"Hey, Lori! Can I help?"

Lori turned to see an eager Lincoln, ready to help his older sister. Lori smiled. She was about to say yes when a thought popped in her mind.

' _Wait a second… Lincoln… and I… alone… in the same room… NOT GOOD. DO NOT LET HIM HELP!',_ Lori thought as Lincoln awkwardly stared at her.

"Uh… Lori? Everything alright?"

"Y-Yeah, Lincoln! Sorry! Uh… L-Lynn said she was going to help me next, so I'm going to get her… BYE!"

Lori ran up the stairs to get Lynn, leaving Lincoln alone and confused. He shook his head and went upstairs to Lori and Leni's room to take a nap. He didn't like to admit it, but Leni had really made him love taking naps.

After Lincoln entered his older sisters' room, Lori and Lynn, with her own red and white apron, headed downstairs to work on the cake. Although Lynn really did not want to work on decorating a cake right now, she did want to help Lori the best she could.

"Alright, Lynn. The theme of the competition is "Nature". I need this cake to teem with nature. Luna didn't get it apparently… or maybe she wasn't paying attention. Point is, I need your help to envision the best nature-looking cake ever. Can you do that?", Lori asked Lynn directly. Lynn smiled and put her hand to her chest.

"'Course I can, Lori! Just watch! Your cake is going to be so covered in nature, it'll make you want to kick it!"

"K-Kick it-? …Nevermind. Sounds good, Lynn. I'm going to go get a piece of paper so I could write down my ideas. I should have done that in the first place… but I guess it slipped my mind. Go ahead and start decorating the cake with what you picture nature as, Lynn!"

As soon as Lori left the room to go get a piece of paper, Lynn got to work on decorating the cake. Thanks to the various amount of frosting colors, Lynn was able to put her visualization of nature onto Lori's cake. It looked beautifully in tune with nature in her mind and, once she was done frosting the cake, it'll look beautifully in tune in nature in the eyes of Lori. However, even if she wanted it to look good to Lori, she also wanted to do other things for the weekend, so she decided to kick things up a notch and work a bit faster.

Meanwhile, Lori had to go upstairs to her room to get the piece of paper. She knew she had a bunch in her bag for college. She really didn't want to enter her room with Lincoln in it, but she couldn't just avoid him all day. She wish she could though. Everytime she saw him, those lustful yet sinful feelings would begin to build inside of her. She hated feeling like that so much, but she couldn't help but enjoy it. It's been years since she's felt like this after all. If only it were anyone else but her brother. Or… if only Lincoln wasn't her brother… The thought of Lincoln not being her brother made her cringe. She couldn't imagine life at the Loud House without her little brother helping keep the family in check. But… if he wasn't their brother… and she knew him… she had to admit she would date him on the spot… Even moreso now that she knows what he looks like as a young adult.

She opened the door to her room and planned to head over to her bed to get her bag from under it. But her plans were dashed by a certain white haired boy sleeping on her sister and roommate's bed. It would have bothered Lori a little if Leni and Lincoln were just cuddling and taking a nap again for the hundredth time, but she usually has the maturity to just let it slide until they woke up. Then she would talk to either Leni or Lincoln about why they should stop, only for Leni to disagree and somewhat "force" Lincoln to keep napping with her. But right now… Lincoln was all alone. Lori assumed that Leni was taking a bath or something, and that Leni let Lincoln nap as she didn't want to accidentally wake him up. The idea of Lincoln being so defenseless in front of her made Lori's mind start to go crazy.

Instead of inching closer over to her own bed to get the piece of paper she needed, she inched closer over to Leni's bed to take a closer look of defenseless Lincoln. Now Lori knew why Leni loved sleeping with Lincoln. It was because of his huge...ly adorable sleeping face. He looked so pleasant and peaceful that it was hard to believe that he was trapped at a boot camp for eight years.

Lori would hate to disturb that peaceful look Lincoln had on his face. Unfortunately, her lust had other plans. Lori placed her hand on Lincoln's chest, and started to trace her finger down the outline of his abs through his shirt. Lori bit her lower lip. She didn't know how… hard abs could get. It felt enlightening… Lori started to rub her hands on Lincoln's abs, trying to remember the details of his abs just by touch alone. She already felt like going insane just by touching it through his shirt. How would she feel if… she touched his abs... directly?

Lori gulped. All thoughts of morals and what was right went down the drain. All Lori could think about was feeling Lincoln all over as much as she could before he woke up. Lori grasped Lincoln's cheeks and lovingly rubbed his other cheek with her free hand. She started to breathe faster and faster.

' _Don't worry, Lori… You can work on your cake later in the day… Just… enjoy yourself… You've worked so hard for so long… Lincoln would do anything for you… so… why don't you take him up on his offer?',_ Lori's subconscious said to her connivingly.

Lori slowly reached her hand out for Lincoln's shirt. This time… no one will interrupt her. Her parents aren't waiting for her to bring him and Leni down for breakfast, Leni is taking a bath or something, Lynn is working on the cake, and the other sisters are doing whatever they do on weekends until Lori called them for help. It was foolproof… Lori had all the time in the world to be able to ravish Linc-

"LORI! I'm finished with decorating the cake!", Lynn yelled from all the way down the kitchen.

Lori immediately back off away from Lincoln as soon as she heard her name. She couldn't stop her face from twisting into an annoyed look, since Lynn pretty much cockblocked her. Lori grabbed a piece of paper from her backpack and rushed downstairs. Before Lori could enter the kitchen, Lynn stepped out and smiled at her.

"I hope you like it, sis! I put all of my hard work into it!"

"T-That's good, Lynn. Does it fit the theme of nature though?"

"Of course! It's basically the embodiment of nature! I gotta go work on my students' papers now, Lori. I have to make sure they actually signed their waivers for rugby next season."

"Uh… okay, Lynn."

"See ya, later! And good luck on your cake thing!"

Lynn rushed up the stairs to her and Lucy's room to continue doing what she was planning to do for the weekend. Lori shrugged her shoulders and walked into the kitchen. She gasped, horrified at the job Lynn did. The cake was decorated to look like various types of sport balls. One side had a basketball pattern, another had a soccer pattern, and so on. It was very crudely drawn however, indicating to Lori that Lynn had rushed… a lot.

Lori sighed.

"This is going to be a long day…"

…

The rest of day working on decorating the cake did not turn out as good as Lori hoped it would. She just couldn't figure out what her cake was missing in accordance to the theme of "Nature". It also didn't help that her sisters had no grasp on that theme as well.

When it was Lola's turn to help decorate the cake, she tried to put real ribbons on it. Not only that, but she made the cake disgustingly pink. It looked more like a wedding cake than a cake in tune with nature. Lola explained to Lori that beauty is a big part of nature, so she tried her best to make the cake look as beautiful as her. After all, she had won more beauty pageants than anyone else in the Royal Woods area.

Lana was the closest of the sisters to get a grip on the whole theme of the cake. But, Lori wanted something elegant and serene from nature to be decorating the cake. Lana literally made the cake brown with a green covering on top, an obvious indication that she visualized the cake as a giant dirt pile with grass growing on top. As "nature-y" as it was, Lori thought it was disgusting.

Lily had good intentions for the way she decorated Lori's cake. Her mature mind wanted to try and help Lori come up with a good "nature"-themed cake decor. However, Lily started to embrace her childish side more ever since Lincoln came back home. So of course, she felt that the theme of the cake needed more colors than just dark green. In the end, it looked like a splatter of random colors on a blank canvas.

Lisa had no idea what she was doing when it came to the cake. Well, it wasn't as if she didn't know what to put on the cake, but rather, she didn't know how to delicately spread the frosting across the cake to draw a picture on it; so she brought out one of her inventions that was supposed to predict what choice of action she should take next to help make it easier for her to do. Unfortunately, the invention concluded that Lisa should just leave work in the kitchen to Lori, seeing as how it also concluded that any other action Lisa would take in regards to Lori's cake would destroy the kitchen.

Luan thought that it was natural for people to laugh, so she wanted to make the cake look funny. Lori tried to explain to her that when she said the theme was nature, she meant nature in the sense of the beautiful environments around them, bursting to the seems with lovely flowers and the such. Luan apparently got the picture, as Lori was happy to see flowers on the sides of the cake. It wasn't what she had in mind, but she could have worked off that. Unfortunately, Luan actually put literal joke-squirt flowers in place of the frosting flowers that she was supposed to draw on the cake, spraying Lori all over with water. Lori didn't find the joke funny, but she couldn't help but smile at her little sister's newfound vigor.

Leni let her sense of fashion take over her sense of the specific theme that Lori requested the cake to convey. The scary thing about Leni working on the cake was that Lori had only left the room for a minute only to come back to Leni being finished with decorating the cake. The cake looked… nice… but it did not fit the description for nature at all. It was more of a birthday cake than a professional cake. Lori would have made Leni help her clean it up afterwards, but Leni worked fast only so she could go back to her and Lori's room to cuddle with Lincoln, who was still in the middle of napping.

Lucy's version of the cake was the most horrifying to Lori. It was just as gothic and creepy as Lucy was. She took the nature theme way too seriously, and explained to Lori how death was a huge part of nature. Lori agreed, but no one wanted to see the theme of death on a cake where the theme is nature. Lori didn't even want to think about the cake. Lucy's gothic tendencies really have gotten a little more extreme over the years. Her depiction of the theme of nature really will be stuck in Lori's nightmares for months.

Lori sighed. She still had no idea what she would put on her cake. Unfortunately her sisters became more of a distraction than inspiration. Lori rested her head and arms on the kitchen counter, and sat on a chair she brought from the dinner table into the kitchen. The sun had been in the middle of leaving Royal Woods in the dark again, so the kitchen was basking in a beautiful orange glow. Lori would have reveled in it, if she didn't feel so bummed out.

"*Yawn* Lori? What are you doing looking all depressed in our kitchen?"

Lori turned her head to look at the source of the sound. To her dismay, it was the one other thing that gave her so much pain and grief: Lincoln, probably just waking up from his nap. She loved him so much, but he was the last person she wanted to see right now. Her sinful feelings threatened to return, but Lori repressed them. She shot an angry look at Lincoln. She didn't want to, but she had to. Plus it wasn't a good day for her, so she felt justified.

"I don't know, Lincoln, maybe it's the fact that no one has been able to help me today!", Lori said harshly to Lincoln.

"Wow. Lori. Come on, calm down…"

Lincoln walked over and rubbed Lori's arm. He felt it tense up a little but slowly relax.

"Lori, do you still need help?"

"Y-Yeah… I do still need help…"

"Then I'll help you, okay? And if my depiction of nature isn't in your taste and you want to just work on it by yourself, I'll help you come up with something for your cake. You can count on me!"

Lori widely smiled. Even with this whole cake and Lincoln drama going on inside her head, she absolutely loved it when Lincoln showcased his capabilities of being another man of the house. Although she tried to leave her lustful feelings aside, Lori somehow still managed to feel a little excited when Lincoln took charge like he did right in front of her.

"Alright, Linky. Let's do it."

Lincoln flashed a wide smile at Lori.

"Awesome! Let's get to it!"

…

The Loud House was loud as usual, with all the sisters doing their normal routines. This left the kitchen as the only quiet room in the entire house. Lori tapped her finger against the kitchen counter, waiting for Lincoln to come down from her room with his apron on. Soon, she heard, through all the various and random noises of the house, the sounds of her brother running down the stairs. Sure enough, she saw him out the corner of her eye entering the kitchen. She blushed a little. She had to admit; Lincoln looked cute in a light blue apron.

"Why are you wearing Leni's apron?"

Lincoln looked away from Lori with a shy face.

"I don't have an apron… so I asked Leni if I could borrow hers."

Lori blushed even more at Lincoln looking shyly away from her.

"I-It's fine, Lincoln. Do you have an idea as to want the theme of nature should look like on the cake?"

"Yeah! Uh… At least I think. Let me try it out."

Lincoln moved over to cake and started to work on it. Lori began to move closer to Lincoln when he suddenly held her shoulder.

"Lori, you had a long day. You should take a break. Sit down! I'll work on the cake. You should just think about what the best nature-ish cake looks like!"

Lori smiled at Lincoln, before hugging him, a hug that he happily returned.

"Alright, Linky. I will."

Lori sat on the chair and watched as Lincoln got to work. As Lincoln moved about the kitchen, grabbing the colors he needed and painting the frosting on the cake, she was unable to control her gaze on Lincoln's broad back. This is why she knew that being alone in the same room as Lincoln was a bad idea. She couldn't focus. A tapping sound alerted Lori back into the real world. She looked at the source of the sound and saw one of the piping bag caps on the floor. She heard Lincoln grumble a little. Lori's eyes widened at Lincoln's next action.

Lincoln had bent over, right in front of Lori, to try and pick up the cap. Lori stared at the marvelous piece of work in front of her. It was just... so toned… not too large and yet… not too small… It looked incredibly soft… She just wanted to reach out and grab it. The fact that it was wrong to just grab Lincoln's posterior out of nowhere presented a sense of danger that unfortunately turned Lori on so much. Lori drooled out the side of her mouth. She slowly lifted her hand and reached it out to Lincoln's derriere. Lori's hand inched closer and closer, shaking a little as it neared Lincoln's-

* **CRASH***

Lori shot up out of her chair at the sudden loud noise in front of her. She looked down to see the foam cake wet and ripped open on top of Lincoln's back, and a couple of the piping bags on the floor, fortunately not opened. The cake had unfortunately landed right on Lincoln as he bent down to get the cap of the piping bag, bringing him down to the kitchen floor with the cake. Lori wondered why the cake had fallen, before realizing that the amount of frosting and icing she and her sisters had put on it all day weakened the cake's structure more and more. Lincoln had unluckily been the straw that broke the camel's back. Lori pushed away the torn-down cake and cleaned away the frosting and icing stuck to Lincoln's back.

"L-Lincoln? Are you okay?"

Lori didn't get an answer. She moved her hands to Lincoln's side and turned him over, only to see his eyes closed and his teeth chattering. She noticed that he was shivering.

"L-Lincoln?"

As soon as Lincoln heard his name, he immediately brought his hands to his face, as if he were trying to defend himself from something.

"I'M SORRY! PLEASE DON'T PUNISH ME! I DIDN'T MEAN TO MAKE A MISTAKE! PLEASE! DON'T LOCK ME IN THERE AGAIN! DON'T LOCK ME IN THE-"

"Lincoln! What are you talking about!? It's me, Lori!", Lori asked worriedly.

Lori began to shake Lincoln vigorously, trying to get him to return to his senses. Soon, Lincoln slowly stopped shaking, and curled up into a ball. Lori looked at Lincoln's face and almost cried at what she saw. Lincoln had a thousand-yard stare on his face. He looked so empty that Lori hugged him close.

"L-Lincoln… Come on, L-Lincoln. You're not at that terrible boot camp anymore… You're at home with your loving family now. No one is going to hurt or punish you… Not while I'm here, L-Linky."

Lori bent down, lifted Lincoln up closer to her, and kissed him on the forehead. That seemed to wake him out of his stupor, since he looked up to Lori.

"L-Lori? Is… Is that you?"

"Yes, Lincoln… It is me."

"O-Oh! G-Good!"

Lincoln sat up and moved away from Lori a bit.

"I-I'm sorry, Lori. I-I… I…"

Lori placed her hands on Lincoln's, making him look at Lori. Lori looked deep into Lincoln's eyes. She clenched her eyes and sighed. When she opened them, she used her hands to bring Lincoln closer to her, while at the same time keeping eye contact with Lincoln.

"Lincoln… I think it's time for you to tell me about what happened at boot camp."

"L-Lori! I-I… think we should continue working on the-"

"No. Not this time. I'm not going to let you avoid the subject anymore. I need to know how you feel Lincoln. You've become so good at hiding secrets from us, that we'll never notice what's wrong with you if you don't tell us. Don't you trust us anymore?"

"N-No, Lori! I do trust you guys!"

"Then why won't you tell us what happened to you at boot camp!"

"I-I-!"

"Why, Lincoln!?"

"I-I, well.. Because…"

"WHY!?"

"BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO FEEL WEAK!"

Lori looked at Lincoln with a shocked look after he yelled that last sentence.

"W-What?"

"I-I… don't want to remember what happened to me at that boot camp. It makes me feel… weak, Lori. I don't ever want to feel weak again… Not when I have to be there for you guys now… I want to be strong… I need to be strong for every one of you guys here…"

Lincoln started to cry. The memories of his experiences at boot camp started to build in his mind, and he tried to make them go away. But as he did, tears fell down his face. He recalled every single one, and all of them made him feel like the weakest piece of scum on the planet.

Lori couldn't bear to see her little brother cry. She pulled Lincoln closer to her. Although he was a grown man on the outside, on the inside, Lincoln was still the eleven year-old kid Lori knew so long ago, trapped and traumatized by the boot camp for eight years. That's why she still loved him so much. Lincoln really didn't change. But instead of telling his family how he felt, he kept it all inside, bottling it all up to fool both his family and himself that he had returned from boot camp as a strong and cocky young man. In reality, he had come back a broken and distraught man.

"L-Lincoln… you can tell me. If you aren't ready to feel weak in front of the family… Feel free to feel weak in front of me. I don't need a hero to protect me, Lincoln. I don't need some strong-macho man in my life. But I do need my little brother to be happy. And the only way for you to be happy is to come to terms with your memories… Fighting against them everyday on a constant basis will only make you worse. Please… tell me, Linky…"

Lincoln sniffed. He looked at Lori and smiled his trademark heartwarming smile. Though, it quickly turned into a small frown.

"L-Lori… I'm… a little scared…"

"Lincoln… Don't be afraid… I literally won't judge you for anything. I just want to help you, okay?"

"...Okay, Lori. I think… I'm ready to tell you… what happened the first week of boot camp."

* * *

 **Phew! Another chapter done~ Alright, I'm going to be real with you guys. I watched and finished all seasons of Bojack Horseman so now I'm going through this sad phase and it's really taking over my motivation to write.**

 **Am I going to continue this story? Yes! Is it going to be weekly? No. I made this clear last chapter. This story cannot be weekly for me. I actually have a life too. Is it fair for you guys? No. I really want to do this weekly, but if I do this that means I either have to continue what I've been doing which is post one chapter and then immediately start writing the next and finish it in one week, or stop entirely and write enough chapters to fulfil the weekly quota.**

 **I might start doing the second choice, since to be honest, this chapter was the hardest chapter for me to write, mainly because of lack of motivation. I just need some time to recuperate. Hopefully I could get back my motivation for this FanFiction soon.**

 **But until then…**

 **I'm sorry.**


	4. Lori's Arc Part 2

**Once again, thank you all for your support. I hope I didn't come off as whiny last time. I think I've finally got off my Bojack Horseman funk. If you haven't seen it yet, trust me, you should. It's such a surprisingly good show. But anyway, back to my FanFiction!**

Author's Note: I FORGOT TO GIVE CREDIT TO "VirusChris" for the "Fan-Linc-Tion" pun this chapter. I totally meant to give credit but I absolutely forgot. I am very sorry, Mr. VirusChris.

 **Also, "Mr. Exposer" pointed out to me that I should put a disclaimer so uh...**

 **:**

 **:**

 ****WARNING: MENTIONS OF ABUSE AND TORTURE!****

* * *

 _ **-Fall of the First Forbidden Flower: Part 2-**_

**Flashback**

:

 _Day One_

:

 _Eight Years Ago_

There was an eerily quiet and dreary atmosphere hanging in the air. Lincoln looked around the interior of the bus. All he could notice, however, were the depressed and empty looks of the fellow children in the bus. Lincoln focused especially on the girl sitting next to him on the bus. She was holding tightly onto her briefcase and kept her eyes closed. She looked like she had just stopped crying. Lincoln wanted to sit by a window, but all the seats were taken and the only seat left was the one next to her. So she had control of where she wanted to sit, since she was there first. He cleared his throat, alerting the girl that he wanted her attention.

"Uh… Um… Hey there! My name's Lincoln. What's yours?"

The girl opened her clearly tired and red eyes, and turned to face Lincoln. She had short brown hair that only reached her shoulders and a few small but cute bangs, a smooth and soft-looking face, not too tan, but not too light skin, and beautiful brown pupils. She was wearing a yellow t-shirt with white stripes and jeans. All in all, your average eleven year-old girl.

"Uh… Hello. I'm… Emily."

"Emily, huh? Nice to meet you!"

Lincoln stretched out his arm to Emily and offered his hand. Emily smiled and took his hand and shook it.

"Pleasure to meet you as well, Lincoln."

Lincoln took back his hand and scratched the back of his head.

"So Emily… Why are you on your way to boot camp?", Lincoln asked with a questioned look.

Emily's smiled quickly turned into a frown. She looked out the window and watched the environment pass the bus in a blur.

"Mom and Dad thought I should be more strong and independent than I am now, so they thought this boot camp would be a step in the right direction. They're planning to have me there for a week."

She turned back to Lincoln, with her own questioned look on her face.

"Why are you here, Lincoln?"

Lincoln crossed his arms and looked angrily to his side.

"My dad wanted to punish me for breaking his prized "plate", so he sent me to this boot camp to set an example to my ten sisters and I."

Emily stared blankly at Lincoln. Lincoln noticed that the bus had gotten eerily quiet again, so he turned to look at Emily, and saw her staring at him.

"W-What?"

"Your dad sent you here… over a plate?"

Lincoln chuckled a little.

"Hehehe… Yeah. I guess it was pretty stupid."

"It's _massively_ stupid!"

Emily and Lincoln both laughed under their breaths. They wanted to laugh out loud, but the atmosphere on the bus made them think otherwise. After they stopped laughing, Emily held onto Lincoln's shirt.

"Lincoln… I'm scared. I've never been to boot camp before."

"..."

Lincoln reached for her hand on his shirt and held it tight. She held back.

"Don't worry, Emily. I've never been to one either. But, now that you're my friend, I'll be there for you. Can I count on you to be there for me?"

"Y-Yeah! Of course, Lincoln!"

"Then we have nothing to worry about."

…

It's been about four hours since the bus left Royal Woods. At this point, Lincoln has no idea where in the world he is. Emily had gotten comfortable around Lincoln over the passing hours, to the point of falling asleep and resting her head on his shoulder. It reminded Lincoln of how Lola and Lana would rest their heads on him whenever they fell asleep after a long day of playing their games and then ending it with a marathon of Blarney cartoons. In a sense, Emily became a surrogate for his sisters. He felt like he wanted to protect her and take care of her, just like he did his younger sisters, even though he and Emily are the same age.

Because Emily slumped over and rested her head on Lincoln's shoulder, he was able to take a look out the window. He was surprised to see that they were in the middle of crossing a desolate and dry desert. No wonder the road suddenly had gotten more bumpy; they weren't even on the road anymore!

Lincoln held Emily closer to him, making sure that the occasional bumps wouldn't scare her awake. He looked around to the other kids in the bus. He couldn't see much since the seats were too high for him to peek over. But the ones he did see were all asleep, trying to forget that they were in this boot camp mess. Lincoln was sure he was the only one on the bus who had taken the boot camp bullet for his sisters. Then again, who knew? Maybe some of the other kids on the bus might be actually nice.

 ****BOOM! CREAK! CRASH! CREAK! CRASH!****

Lincoln had to hold on to both his seat and Emily to keep himself and her from flying about the bus. The bus had suddenly made a really loud sound and started to roll over and over in a circle. Lincoln thanked whatever was watching him from above that he was awake. If he were asleep, he wouldn't have been able to keep himself and Emily in place. He couldn't say the same for some of the other kids unfortunately. Some of them started to seemingly fly around the bus, crashing into the ceiling of the bus, hitting the walls and windows of the bus, or even smashing into the flooring of the bus. Lincoln held himself and Emily down using both his and her briefcase and the seat of the bus, so he wasn't worried about them flying into the certain cycling doom of the bus.

"L-LINCOLN!? WHAT'S GOING ON!?"

Lincoln turned to Emily, who was scared to death and holding onto Lincoln's body tightly, with both of her arms.

"I DON'T KNOW! JUST HOLD ON, EMILY!"

 ****CRASH! CREAK! CRASH! Creak…****

Silence occupied the empty air. The bus had finally stopped it's circular terror, and landed on it's side. Lincoln had to use a lot of his strength to not fall flat onto Emily, who was crying softly into his chest. Lincoln grabbed his seat and hoisted himself and Emily up to take a look at the damage. He wanted to throw up.

Fortunately, most of the fellow children there had only small, yet still bleeding cuts in their hands and faces. Unfortunately, there were some who didn't live through that terrifying ordeal. Lincoln wanted to look away, but he couldn't. He couldn't help but think that he could have been those kids. Dead, and deformed in a way that no one could recognize who it was.

The bus had also been severely damaged. Glass from the broken windows was everywhere, some of the seats were uprooted from their spots, and the walls and ceiling of the bus looked bashed in, as if it were made of paper.

Lincoln held Emily and their briefcases tightly. He pulled them out of their seat and proceeded to the nearest emergency exit, just like how he was taught to do. The other kids noticed and did the same. When Lincoln finally exited the broken and dreary bus, he found himself in front of the bus driver, who was a very burly and round man. Lincoln noticed that the bus driver was now wearing some sort of military uniform. When he originally got on the bus, the bus driver wore the usual bus uniform.

"Good job, cadet. You survived. And you even saved someone else. You've got a bright future in that camp.", the bus driver said in a gruff and raspy voice.

"Uh… thank you, I guess?", Lincoln replied.

The bus driver looked a little displeased and shook his head.

"You'll have to learn a little more about respect though. When we get there, make sure you refer to everyone as sir or ma'am, understood?"

"Y-Yes… sir."

The bus driver left Lincoln to go check on the surviving children. Lincoln set Emily down carefully next to him. She stopped crying, but she didn't want to let him go.

"It's okay, Emily… We're safe now. You don't have to be scared anymore."

Emily nodded and slowly let go of Lincoln. She looked up into his eyes and smiled.

"Thank you, Lincoln."

Lincoln smiled back.

"You're welcome, Emily."

"ALRIGHT, CHILDREN! LISTEN UP!"

Lincoln, Emily, and the rest of the kids looked to the bus driver, who had suddenly called out to them loudly.

"As you all can see, our bus has decided to take a vacation. Indefinitely. So we will just have to march to the boot camp from here on out! This is a good start to the beautiful experience that is "The Boot Camp Project"! Am I right?"

Everyone said yes, in fear that not agreeing with the bus driver would cause them great distress.

"Then, march! One! Two! Three! One! Two! Three!"

Most of the children followed. Lincoln, however, was worried about the children left in the bus.

"Sir! What about the kids on the bus!?", Lincoln yelled.

The bus driver stopped, but didn't turn to face Lincoln.

"If they're still on the bus, they're dead, cadet. Move along."

The children were shocked, and expected the bus driver to turn around and tell them that it was a joke. A horrible and insensitive joke, but a joke nonetheless. However, the bus driver continued to march forwards, and the children forced themselves to follow, or else suffer the blistering heat of the sun and the sand beneath their feet. Lincoln and Emily trudged forwards as well, forcing themselves away from the bus. It would do them no good even if they did try and save someone; they were in the middle of the desert. If they got lost and separated from the group, they would surely perish.

If only Lincoln and the rest noticed that their bus was not the only broken down bus in that specific area...

 _A couple of hours later…_

Lincoln wiped the sweat off his head. Lincoln couldn't keep track of how long they had been walking, so he just assumed they've been walking for hours. Another indication was that their bus couldn't be seen by them anymore, implying that they really had moved a long way from the bus. Lincoln looked to Emily on his right.

She was having a tough time as well. She obviously didn't look like the type of girl who would do a lot of physical work. She looked like she came from a dainty and rich household. Still, she had the heart and determination of a lion. She didn't want to be left alone and burn to death in some random desert. She wanted to live the life she always wanted. And that's why Lincoln is still by her side. He wants to keep that determination in her alive and well.

Emily looked back at Lincoln and grinned. She's never met a guy as considerate as Lincoln was. She was envious of his various sisters, to have such a nice and cunning boy as their brother.

"Hey, Lincoln?"

""Yeah, Emily?"

"D-Do your sisters appreciate you?"

Lincoln's smiled into a surprised look. He looked deep in thought for a little. Emily anxiously waited for his answer. She secretly wanted Lincoln to say no. She wanted to be the sister Lincoln dreamed of having. Then he started to laugh.

"Hahahaha! That was kind of random, huh? Well, sometimes I feel like they don't. Sometimes I feel like yelling at them. Telling them that I have feelings too. That I'm just an eleven year old boy who wants attention as well. But it's okay. They've been there for me. I've been there for them. That definitely shows that we appreciate each other. It definitely shows that we love each other! So, yes. They do appreciate me… Gosh… I already miss them…"

Emily held Lincoln's hand.

"It's okay, Lincoln. You seem pretty close to them. Of course you would already miss them. I wish I could say the same. My older sister and I have never really been that close. We just know we love each other, but we tend to keep to ourselves. I wish… I had a brother like you."

Lincoln held her hand back warmly. "Emily… Why don't we be the best for each other now then? I don't think boot camp will be very fun. So let's make it fun! I'll be the best older brother you've ever had, and you'll be the best little sister I'll ever have! Even though we're the same age... Deal?"

Emily smiled widely at Lincoln. It was so surprising to her how close she and Lincoln had already gotten. They just seemed to click. Maybe it was because of the fact that they both needed someone there for them, and they perfectly fitted each other's needs.

"Deal!"

 ****Thud!****

Lincoln and Emily immediately turned to the sound to see a boy collapsed in the sand. Lincoln ran up to the boy and examined him. He probably collapsed due to dehydration. It was a very hot day, they were in a desert, and the bus driver had no water to give anyone. Lincoln was grateful to himself for packing some water in his briefcase.

He only had a bit of water left though. He had packed two water bottles and gave the other to Emily. He made the boy drink the rest of the water Lincoln had left. He wasn't waking up. Lincoln assumed that he just needed some shade and a chance to cool off from the unforgiving rays of the sun.

Lincoln hoisted the boy on his back and walked back to Emily, who was anxiously waiting for him.

"I-Is he alright, Lincoln?"

"Yeah, I think so. I'm sure when we get to the boot camp, we'll be able to get help for him."

Lincoln and Emily walked onwards for a while until the bus driver suddenly yelled out.

"We're here!"

The children, being excited to finally reach their destination, used the last bit of their strength to run up to the bus driver. Lincoln and Emily did the same. Fortunately, they weren't too far from the bus driver. After they left the bus behind, they had caught up to the group. They eventually found their pace in the middle of all the children following the bus driver, who was at the front of the line.

When all the children finally caught up and formed into a group, the bus driver spoke up.

"Welcome to where the Boot Camp Project takes place: Camp Gor Mapr. Where our slogan is, "To continue to stand tall, you must sacrifice it all."

Lincoln looked at the camp in front of him. It was pretty wide. The buildings, all five of them, within its chain-linked fences weren't as tall as his own house. The gate in which they were in front of looked very prison-esque. It had two large metal doors, and one watchtower on both top corners of the was a foundation of stone covering the edges of the gate. A large flag was in the middle of the camp, flowing gently yet harshly in the wind, overlooking the camp from a high point. Even higher than the gate, so Lincoln and the rest could see it clearly. It depicted a picture of a red X over what appeared to be a knife. Aside from that strange flag, the camp looked like any normal summer camp. Only this one was supposed to be a boot camp.

The bus driver called out to someone on the other side.

"Hello! General! I brought the newest batch of subjects!"

Lincoln felt confused.

' _Subjects? Why is he calling us sub-', he thought._

Suddenly, the two metal large gate doors opened slowly, breaking Lincoln's focus on his thoughts. It seemed to move automatically as it revealed only one person standing in the middle, waiting for the two metal doors to slowly put her at the attention of all the kids. She was a tall woman, probably around six feet. She had dark brown hair flowing from the top of her head to middle of her back. Her face had a sharp look to it, and her angry looking eyes with the blue irises didn't help lessen the sharpness. She was also wearing a military uniform, just like the bus driver. Only, her's looked more of a military general's uniform.

She marched up to the bus driver and started a conversation with him. It was obviously meant to be private, as none of the kids could hear what they were saying. Suddenly, she turned to the kids and smiled. Lincoln and Emily were the only kids to feel a chill run down their backs. While the other children thought nothing of it, Lincoln and Emily felt an evil intent behind that otherwise friendly gesture.

"Hello, children. My name is Rachel E. Scott. However, you all have to address me as General Scott. Welcome to our lovely Camp Gor Mapr! I do hope you enjoy your stay.", General Scott said.

She circled around the group of kids, examining them and evaluating them.

"A bunch of scrawny ones this time, huh? Well… we'll change that soon. For now, I'll appoint you to your rooms. You'll all have to share your room with at least one person, so take about one minute to pick a partner. Alright, start no- Wait a second…"

General Scott walked up to Lincoln after noticing that he was holding someone unconscious.

"Young man, why are you holding that boy on your back?", she asked.

"Um… I'm holding him because he fell unconscious on the way here, and he needs help, so I was hoping the boot camp can bring him back to health… ma'am."

General Scott grinned. Lincoln felt a little uncomfortable, being at the center of her attention and all.

"Well, well. Looks like we have a hero here. Normally, the kids usually leave the fallen ones behind and focused on themselves. But you actually risked your own safety to bring this boy to safety, huh? Remarkable…"

' _Normally, they leave them behind!? What kind of place is this!?',_ Lincoln thought to himself.

General Scott did a gesture to the bus driver, who quickly understood and carried the boy away into the camp. She looked back at Lincoln.

"As thanks for saving another life, we shall revive the boy, and bring him back on his feet. Any other questions, cadet?"

"N-No, ma'am…", Lincoln said quietly.

"Alright then. Everyone! At attention! You have one minute to find your dorm partner! GO!", she yelled.

The children scrambled to find someone to dorm with. Lincoln and Emily stayed still though, since they both knew that there was no else they would have wanted to form with. Soon, the children stopped scrambling about, and General Scott started to send pairs of children to a specified dorm number.

"Lincoln… do you think we'll have fun here at boot camp?", Emily whispered.

"I'm sure we will, Emily. If anything, we can make it fun for ourselves somehow, right?", Lincoln said hopefully.

Emily nodded her head and flashed another one of her pretty smiles.

"Yeah! Of course."

The two noticed that General Scott was nearing them, so they quieted down and awaited her orders. They didn't want to get in trouble on their first day at boot camp after all. This place is already suspicious as it is. No need to see what their punishments are like. General Scott stopped in front of Lincoln and Emily and gave them both keys to their room. On the key was an attached keychain that had the number one-hundred-and-five on it.

"Both of you decided you'd be roommates with each other, right?", General Scott asked.

"Yes, ma'am.", Lincoln and Emily nodded respectfully.

"Good. Your room number is on your keychains. You both got one-hundred-and-five. Go over there and unpack your belongings. After which, wear this."

General Scott gave them a military uniform.

"You'll need to wear this as soon as you're done. We'll be starting practices as soon as everyone finishes unpacking. Just because you just got here does not mean you won't be doing anything today, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am.", Lincoln and Emily nodded respectfully again.

"Excellent. I think you two will be one of the best here. I hear no hesitation in your voices whatsoever. But we'll have to see in the future. Now, get moving!"

Lincoln and Emily immediately ran away from General Scott, looking for their dorm building. The way the buildings were labelled weren't too complicated for Lincoln and Emily to figure out. The number one on their room number actually indicated that their room was in dorm building number one. Zero and five indicated that their room number was five. Once Lincoln and Emily reached their room, after entering the building, Lincoln used his key to unlock the door. Sure enough, it opened.

Lincoln and Emily walked inside their room. It was a pretty small room for two people. It was big enough to have two beds, one on each side of the room, pushed into the wall. One window was in the middle of the room and the two beds, with a single drawer right under it. One top of the drawer were two books, both titled, "How To Survive: Camp Edition". It was a depressing-looking room. Lincoln didn't mind as much, since his room at home was actually smaller than this room.

"Which bed do you want, Emily?"

"H-huh? Oh! Um… I'll take t-the one on the right, if you don't mind, Lincoln."

Lincoln watched Emily with a confused look as she waddled over to the left bed and began to unpack her briefcase of items there. Lincoln walked over to her.

"Um, Emily… That's the left bed."

"Huh!? Oh! Y-You're right! Silly me! I-I'll go over to the right one then and-"

"Emily, what's wrong? You're being a lot more nervous now."

Emily sighed and sat down on the bed. She started to twirl her hair around her pointer finger.

"Sorry, Lincoln. It's just… I've never lived anywhere besides home before. It's nerve-wracking."

Lincoln sat down next to her.

"I can relate, Emily. I've only lived at my own home all my life. I've been under the threat of being sent to my Aunt Shirley's house once, but other than that, I've never lived anywhere else for a day before, much less a week! But it's fine. You and I could survive a week outside our homes. This week will go by so fast, you won't even notice it. Until then, I'll keep you company!"

Emily started to cry and immediately hugged Lincoln, hiding her face in Lincoln's closest shoulder to her.

"T-Thanks, *sniff* Lincoln."

Lincoln patted Emily's head.

"You're welcome, Emily. Anytime you need help, just ask me. Even though we've only known each other for about half the day, you feel like a little sister to me."

Emily looked up to Lincoln's face.

"*Sniff* *Sniff* R-Really?"

"Yeah! To be honest, you kind of remind me of some of my sisters. You've got my little sister's, Lisa's, brown hair. You're as tall as my other little sister, Lucy. You've got beautiful skin, like my older sister, Leni. Funny enough, none of my sisters have your quiet and shy personality."

Emily laughed. She rubbed her arm over her eyes and wiped away her tears.

"Thanks, Lincoln. It's funny how close you and I already are, huh?"

"Yeah! It's as if something's making us click. Like someone is dictating our lives as if they were writing us as characters in a "Fan-Linc-tion" of theirs!"

Emily looked at Lincoln confused.

"F-Fan… "Linc"-tion?", she asked.

"Yeah! You know, because of that website, Fanfiction. Where people write their own stories about characters from their favorite shows. And I'm a character from a show that the author of a certain FanFiction does not own. And you're what they refer to on FanFiction as an OC, or an original character, and somehow we immediately clicked on chapter four. Hence, "Fan-Linc-tion!", Lincoln tried to explain.

"...What?", Emily asked blankly.

"Uh… never mind. Let's unpack all of our stuff before General Scott gives us a punishment."

Emily laughed at Lincoln awkwardly trying to forget the stupid joke he made and nodded. They quickly unpacked their belongings and decorated their respective sides of the room. When they finished, they found out that now they would have to change into their uniforms. An awkward air soon filled the entire room. Lincoln turned to face Emily.

"U-Um… I-I'll close my eyes and turn around when you change. Then, when you're done, you do the same and I'll change. S-Sound good?"

"Y-Yeah, Lincoln!" G-Good idea!"

"W-Well… let's get this over with, right?"

Emily nodded, and Lincoln quickly closed his eyes and turned around. He heard the fast shuffling of clothes being thrown to the ground followed by the sounds of a zipper. Lincoln couldn't help but blush.

"I-I'm done, Lincoln."

"G-Good! T-Then, I'm going to start changing now."

"O-Okay, I've turned around and closed my eyes. P-Please… go ahead."

Lincoln opened his eyes and looked over to Emily to make sure she wasn't looking. Lincoln smiled when he saw that she did the same thing he did when she was changing. Lincoln quickly took of his orange polo and jeans and put on his military uniform.

"Alright, I'm done too, Emily!"

Emily opened her eyes and sighed. She turned to Lincoln.

"Huh… that wasn't that hard to do. Right, Lincoln?", Emily said confidently.

"Hahaha! I guess so! It wasn't hard at all!", Lincoln laughed.

Emily looked outside the window.

"We should get outside and look for General Scott. We're pretty much done here.", she said.

"Yeah, good idea, Emily. Let's go!", Lincoln said.

The two ran out the door and outside the building. They couldn't find the general, but they did bump into the bus driver, who looked at them approvingly for being quick and told them to wait underneath the flag for the rest of the kids and further instructions from General Scott.

And so, they waited…

…

"*Pant* *Pant*..."

Lincoln and Emily were in the middle of running around the inside of the camp under the unforgiving heat of the sun, along with the rest of the kids in the camp. They knew they were probably going to do something boring and extraneous, but this was ridiculous. It was way too hot to do any running, and most of the children running had never ran more than a mile in their lives. Lincoln thanked Lynn in his thoughts for making him exercise with her. Although he was nowhere near her level of athleticism, he could hold his own when exercising now. He was worried about Emily at the moment though. He could see her from the corners of his eyes struggling to keep up the pace. He encouraged her by patting and rubbing her back, making her feel more comfortable and more determined to keep going.

Lincoln felt bad for the kids who didn't keep up in what was now the fifth lap around the camp. If they couldn't keep up their running and fell to the ground, General Scott would take them somewhere; and Lincoln swore he heard the sounds of muffled screaming in the direction of where the general took the kid. Soon after, the kid that was taken away would run on back to the group and continue running their lap. Lincoln peeked a look at one of their faces and saw nothing but despair and desperation.

Lincoln noticed that Emily was starting to fall behind a little. He got worried and lowered his pace to stay side to side with Emily.

"Come on, Emily! We only a few more laps to go! We can run ten laps no problem!", Lincoln encouraged.

"L-Lincoln… it's so hot… I… can't…"

Emily sounded like she had given up already. Lincoln didn't like to hear that tone of voice and continued to encourage her.

"Yes, you can! After this, I promise that I'll give you the best foot massage in the world! Trust me, I give a mean one. My older sister, Lori, kind of forced me to go learn how to give massages a while back."

"...A foot massage does sound nice right about now…", Emily said with a weary yet appreciative voice.

"Keep on running and I promise I'll give you one after the day's over!"

Emily nodded and pushed her body to her limits once more. Lincoln sighed. Whatever they were doing to those other kids, he couldn't let happen to Emily. He saw Emily as a little sister now. Could you blame him? He's been surrounded by sisters his whole life. And now, suddenly, he had to leave all of them. Maybe he felt that Emily could fill in that empty spot that he couldn't fill anymore since his sisters weren't able to be there for him at the moment.

With a final hurrah, Lincoln and Emily finished their ten laps as ordered by General Scott. Both of them collapsed on the sand around the flag and breathed heavily. General Scott walked up to the two and nodded approvingly.

"Good work, you two", General Scott said.

She smacks Lincoln's back as another way of saying good job. Lincoln flinches at this.

"Fortunately for you all, this is all you are doing today. Go on and get back to your dorms. There should be a pack of water bottles in front of it."

"*Pant* *Pant*... Thank you, ma'am.", Lincoln and Emily said.

They forced themselves to get up and move. They walked quickly towards their dorm. When they got there, they were happy to find that General Scott did not lie about the water. There was a pack of twenty-four water bottles. Lincoln and Emily assumed there was a bunch of them because they were going to be doing drills like that for the rest of the week. Lincoln sighed and lifted the pack up. It was really heavy, but he was not as tired as Emily was.

"E-Emily… c-could you open the door, please?"

"Oh! Yeah! I'll do that, Lincoln!"

Emily immediately opened the door, and Lincoln waddled inside with the pack of bottled water. Once again, it was thanks to Lynn that he was able to carry that pack of bottled water without much trouble. She taught him to use his legs rather than his back to lift stuff after all. Lincoln set down the water bottles on top of the drawer. He then awaited Emily, who was locking the door at the moment.

"S-So… Lincoln…"

""Y-Yeah, Emily?"

Emily locked the door, faced Lincoln, and twiddled her thumbs.

"W-Were you serious… about giving me a… foot massage?"

Lincoln gulped. He didn't understand this feeling, but he felt like there was a strangely mesmerizing atmosphere in the room now. There was this tension that wasn't awkward or dramatic. It was more… friendly and… loving? Lincoln couldn't tell. What he could tell, was that he was still willing to give Emily a foot massage.

"Of course! I never go back on my promises. Just sit yourself down on your bed and I'll get the lotion."

"L-L-Lotion?", Emily asked, a blush wildly growing on her face.

Lincoln didn't notice her tone of voice or her face when he had mentioned lotion.

"Yeah! We need to get your feet as comfortable as possible. I can't just give you a foot massage without the lotion! Too much tension without it. Lotion will make things go much smoother."

Emily blushed harder. She didn't know why either that the room had a strange tension in it. She didn't know why she felt so ecstatic and fearful when Lincoln had mentioned lotion. She just didn't know…

Lincoln found the lotion in his briefcase and brought it over to Emily.

"Alright… I need you to take off your shoes and socks."

Emily didn't think she could blush any harder than she did now.

"B-But, Lincoln… I didn't get to wash them… they probably really smell…"

"It's fine! I don't… mind, Emily…"

Emily gulped. She started to slowly take off her shoes. Lincoln begged her to go faster. For some reason, her taking off her shoes slowly made Lincoln feel weak. It also made him feel guilty for some reason… And every time he felt guilty, he thought of Ronnie Anne… Gosh… he missed her a lot.

Lincoln started to gently and firmly rub Emily's feet. She clenched her teeth and gripped the sheets under her hands. She's never had anyone touch her feet, so having a boy she just met today touch her so sensually and personally made her tingle with anticipation and nervousness. She gasped a little when she felt Lincoln pull at her toes lightly.

"S-Sorry!", Lincoln exclaimed.

"N-No! I-It's okay! I-I was… just surprised it felt good… Please… keep going."

Lincoln swallowed. He continued his gentle assault on Emily's feet. Even though they couldn't stop blushing, they eventually got used to the feeling and when the excitement of the situation left, the pleasure entered.

Emily had never felt so good before. She just thought Lincoln was bluffing to her about learning how to give a foot massage. He really was an expert at it. All the stress she felt in her feet after running so long slowly went away. But… she still felt some stress in her legs. All of her rational thoughts went down the drain when she thought of the pleasure that could come with Lincoln also giving her a leg massage.

"L-L-Lincoln~"

Lincoln felt perplexed. When Emily addressed him, her voice sounded weirdly… voluptuous... as Lisa once said when he heard Lori talking to Bobby on the phone. He felt a little scared. The once shy Emily was now looking down at him with a evil glint in her eyes. She placed her hand on her cheek and gnawed a little on her thumb. Lincoln could feel a bit of sweat building up.

"Y-Yes, Emily?"

"Would you also give me… a leg message~? Pretty please~?", Emily asked with a primal desire.

Lincoln knew that she was asking him for a leg massage, but the tone of her voice was more commanding than questioning. He sighed. There was no way out of this. It reminded him of that one time he had a similar experience with Leni; where he gave her a back massage and the session lasted for hours because she didn't want him to stop.

He caved in and nodded. Emily cheered quietly and didn't even wait for Lincoln to turn around before she started to pull her pants off of her body. Lincoln closed his eyes quickly, but that didn't help him not see the cute frilly pink undergarment that Emily was wearing.

"Alright, Linky~ Would you please *pant* get started?"

Lincoln's heart started to beat faster and faster. It felt so immoral for someone other than her sisters to call him "Linky"... And yet… it felt so right.

"O-Okay, Emily. Here I-I go."

As soon as Lincoln's hand touched her leg, Emily moaned out loud. Lincoln froze. He'd never heard such an amazing sound come out of a woman before. Emily froze as well. She's never made that sound before… She wanted to make that sound again.

"C-Continue, Linky…"

"A-Alright…"

Lincoln grabbed the lotion and poured some on his hand. He then started gently rubbing Emily's leg. Emily couldn't stop herself from moaning out loud a little. She wasn't too loud fortunately, so anyone who passed by the room would have thought the two were deeply asleep. Lincoln sighed and looked out the window to see that it was now dark out.

This was going to be a long night.

:

 _Day Four_

:

Lincoln rubbed his eyes as the morning rays hit his face. The last two days were strange to him. They were relatively the same, with a small breakfast and a big run for the mornings, a smaller lunch and a bigger run in the afternoon, and no dinner and rest for the next day. It was pretty boring, but Lincoln had expected this of boot camp.

What he didn't expect was his nightly routines with Emily. She had gotten extremely comfortable around him, even going as far as to hug him more openly whenever she had the chance to. It made Lincoln feel really flustered, but he was happy that Emily was cheerful.

Unfortunately, the rest of the children were not as cheerful. They were miserable. The running was getting to them, especially in the heat of the desert and the summer combined. The small food portions were also greatly affecting them, as many of them lost a bunch of enthusiasm due to being hungry all day. And according to what Lincoln's been hearing, some of them had bullies for roommates, who would take stuff from their roommate or take up most of the space in the room.

Lincoln sat up and stretched his arms. He had to get ready fast, or else someone would eat his and Emily's breakfast. The cafeteria was always like that: a survival of the fittest situation. Lincoln's brains usually helped him and Emily out, but even his smarts couldn't help if he and Emily were late to the cafeteria.

Lincoln quickly put on his uniform and went to shake Emily. Before he could though, he tripped on his blanket and fell on his back.

"Ah! Geez…"

He rubbed the sharp pain on his back away and proceeded to shake Emily.

"Hey! Emily! Let's go! We gotta' go to the cafeteria now or else we won't be able to be earlier than everyone else!"

Emily sat up at the sound of the word "cafeteria" and immediately jumped out of bed, grabbed her military uniform that was laying off the side of her bed, and started to get ready. Lincoln turned around to avoid seeing his roommate strip. Although he did it out of politeness for Emily's privacy, it was mostly brought on by a secret desire to have his sisters be happy to see him be more gentlemanly and mature. He didn't like to admit it, but boot camp did make him feel more respectful and independent so far, with it's daily routines and "live on your own" attitude. Plus, Lincoln took pride that he and Emily were one of the only children to not have gotten in trouble and given a punishment. It was horrible being at the camp of course, but he was sure he could survive this for a week and then go back home, reconnect with everyone again, and then forget this happened and move on.

Emily tapped on Lincoln's shoulder, indicating that she finished dressing up. Lincoln turned and smiled at her. They exited their room, locked it, and headed for the cafeteria. Sure enough, they were one of the few kids there. Lincoln and Emily took their portion of food and sat down on one of the various lunch tables. They took a look at what they got for food today. Mashed potatoes and gravy. And that was it. It barely took up half of the plate. Lincoln and Emily sighed and started to eat.

"Did you hear?", a random voice said that echoed across the cafeteria.

"What?", said another random voice.

"People have been being bullied in their own rooms!"

"No way!"

"Yeah! It's horrible."

Lincoln could visibly see Emily shake a little. Lincoln ignored the other kids talking and focused his attention on Emily.

"What's wrong, Emily?"

Emily was quiet for a moment before answering Lincoln.

"... Are you going to… bully me, Lincoln?"

"WHAT!?", Lincoln almost yelled out loud. He managed to keep his voice low enough for others not to notice. He coughed a little and looked directly into Emily's eyes.

"Erhm… What makes you say that, Emily?"

Emily sighed and twiddled her thumbs, which Lincoln learned was one of her nervous ticks.

"I mean… You've been really nice to me so far… I feel like you're building up to something… Like taking advantage of my kindness… or something…"

Lincoln held Emily's shoulder.

"Emily, if I really wanted to bully you, I would have done it by now. No need to plan anything. Bullies are bullies. They're not maniacal sorts of people. They're just jerks that need to be taken down a notch. Well… except for this one girl I know back home… Anyways, I'm your friend, Emily! Aren't you my friend?"

Emily grabbed Lincoln's hand.

"Of course! I'm sorry, Lincoln… I don't know what came over me. You've been so good to me that I thought… It couldn't be true."

Lincoln smiled and held her hand back.

"It's okay, Emily. I'd be suspicious too. I have something I have to admit to you though…"

"W-What?", Emily said, secretly hoping that Lincoln would say what her heart wanted him to say. It's only been three days and yet she found herself being infatuated by Lincoln.

"I've been pampering you because… you remind me of my sisters."

Although it wasn't what Emily wanted to hear, she still felt happy to hear that she was so close to him that he thought of her as a sister.

"Really, Lincoln?"

"Y-Yeah! Sorry, it's just… I really miss them. It's so weird not having to race them all to the bathroom every morning. It's so weird not having to pamper to their every needs every time they want me to. It just feels… lonely, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand. I kind of miss my older sister too. We had good moments too. I'd rather hang out with her than here anyday."

Lincoln laughed, and Emily joined in as well. After they stopped laughing, they finished the rest of their small meal, and walked over to the usual spot to meet up for the daily run. However, this time, when they arrived at the meeting spot, they met up with General Scott, who they haven't seen for the last two days.

"Good morning, ma'am!", they quickly said.

"Good morning, cadets. Today's finally initiation day. Aren't you excited?"

Lincoln and Emily looked at her confused.

"Oh, forgive me. I didn't have the chance to announce it over the intercom yesterday. Today, everyone is going to have to pass the examination drill in order to stay at this camp, or be sent to the next one for extra training."

"O-Other camp, ma'am?", Lincoln asked.

"Yes, cadet. The other camp. We have a sister camp up north of here. I actually run that camp. It's not that far from here, so I like to travel between the two every once in awhile."

Lincoln nodded and the conversation ended there. Soon, all of the children in Camp Gor Mapr were at the meeting spot.

"Alright cadets. I'm going to assume that the running drills you've been doing for the last two days helped make you strong enough for today's course. If it hasn't, you better pull yourselves through today, or else. I'll be having all of you pitted against each other in a fight for survival. This will teach you how you're supposed to react in times when you're backed into a corner."

Suddenly, General Scott shot a menacing glare at everyone.

"Anyone who passes out will be sent to the next camp for extra training. Any questions?"

"U-Um… General Scott, ma'am?", a brave boy said.

"Yes, cadet?"

"W-Why are we fighting each other?"

"Because your enemy could be anyone at any moment. This is meant to not only initiate you into our way of life, but also to teach you how to react when someone you know and/or love tries to backstab you. Here… everyone is your enemy."

General Scott took a moment to look at every kid she could dead in the eye. Even Lincoln as well.

"Everyone. Now, let's get started. After this examination is done, all of the people who passed will be given numbers to be addressed by. Since you do not have a number right now, I will be calling you by name on this roll call sheet. First up…Hank and William. Everyone get in a big circle. Hank and William, you two will be in the middle."

Two boys Lincoln's seen from time to time went to the center.

"Good", General Scott nodded, "Now fight!"

The boys looked at her questioningly and looked at each other questioningly as well.

General Scott shook her head in disapproval.

"I said fight. Now. Unless you rather be punished instead and then be sent to the other camp together."

The boys sadly looked at each other and nodded, understanding the predicament they both were placed in. One of the boys finally threw a punch, which the other dodged flawlessly and threw their own punch. Soon, a primal instinct took over the boys and they fought like animals. After being cornered by the general with the threat of being sent to some random camp and an added punishment with that, the boys turned into creatures fighting for survival.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, one of them fell to the ground. Hard. He struggled to get up. The boy standing over him looked over to General Scott.

"Take him out of his misery, cadet", was all she said.

The boy nodded and gave a hard kick to the boy on the ground's stomach. He immediately passed out.

"Excellent. Take him to the nurse's building. Congratulations, cadet. You've just been initiated. You are now Cadet Number Five-Four-One-Six-Three."

The boy nodded and lifted the unconscious boy and left for the nurse's building.

"Now then… who's next?", General Scott said menacingly, bringing a chill to the children's bones.

…

An hour passes by. About six pairs of kids have already gone. Some of the fights ended up with no one falling unconscious; others ended up with both falling unconscious. It was horrifyingly brutal. Lincoln and Emily wanted to hold on to each other. There was a not too small yet not too large amount of blood on the sand where the fighting took place. The more horrifying thing was that the blood stood out so much in contrast to the sand. It was as if the children on the fighting spot had either killed or been killed. It brought chills down Lincoln and the rest of the kids' bones.

"Excellent! Congratulations, Cadet One-Four-Nine-Three-Seven. Welcome aboard. Take him to the nurse's building if you will."

The girl who won the fight nodded and carried the boy to the nurse's building. The air got tense once again. Everyone was wondering who would she call next. They all knew they had to go, or else. Lincoln begged to the sky not to have to fight Emily. He didn't want to fight anyone there, especially-

"Lincoln and Emily. Please enter the middle of the circle and begin your examination", General Scott declared.

Lincoln and Emily could feel their hearts stop beating. They walked to the center of the group circle. As they walked over to it, they felt the world around them stop in time. It was as if they were being sentenced to death. They faced each other on the field, knowing what they had to do.

Lincoln closed his eyes. He couldn't hit Emily. He just couldn't… he had to speak up. He had to be the one kid against this. He'd been such a good cadet for the last three days… They had to give him a chance to hear him out.

"G-General Scott, ma'am!"

General Scott's brow curled up questioningly.

"Yes… Lincoln?", she asked, having to look at her roll sheet to remember his name."

"I… I… I won't do this."

The entirety of every person there stares blankly at him.

"... What did you say, Mr. Loud?", General Scott demanded in a harsh and quiet tone.

"I-I won't give in to your game, General. I'm not going to fight this girl here for no reason", Lincoln stated, trying to hide the fact that Emily was his closest friend there so that he wouldn't get her in trouble with him.

General Scott looked at Lincoln with the most disapproving face all the kids have ever seen.

"Mr. Loud… how did you ever learn that you have a choice here? I told you to fight… and fight you will."

"No, ma'am. I won't fight. I will not fight anyone for any reason. I've learned better than that."

General Scott scowled at Lincoln, making chills go down his back. He still continued to stand tall however.

"It doesn't matter what you've learned before you got here. Whatever you're told to do in this camp, you follow. Isn't that why your parents sent you here? To follow rules and become a respectable member of society!?", General Scott said harshly.

Lincoln flinched at her tone of voice. It was ten times more terrifying than his dad's angry tone.

"Y-Yes, ma'am… But even so… I don't think that my parents would ever want me to fight someone in some stupid competition like this."

Lincoln could feel the anger coming off of General Scott.

"I don't care what anyone thinks. I don't care what your friends thinks. I don't care what your family thinks. And I especially don't care what you think, Mr. Loud. When you're in my camp; When you're in another enemy's territory… no one cares what you think. What they; What I care about is making sure that the people in my camp follow the rules of my establishment. And if you can't follow the rules, Mr. Loud… then you get punished."

"I-If that's the case, then I'll get punished! I won't fight!"

Lincoln finally broke the dam that held the general's anger in. Instead of blowing up though, she got extremely quiet, her face red and her teeth clenched.

"Lock him up… in the room."

"Yes, ma'am!", yelled two military-dressed men who came out of nowhere as soon as they heard General Scott's voice.

They grabbed Lincoln by the arms roughly and dragged him to the room. Lincoln tried to fight back, but the two men were too strong for him. General Scott turned to the children.

"Cadets… it's time for you all to learn the truth about Camp Gor Mapr. Follow me to the room for Mr. Loud's punishment."

The children immediately marched after General Scott. Emily walked with the group, immensely worried about what was going to happen to Lincoln.

…

It was dark. There was a scuffle when he first entered the room before he was forcibly knocked unconscious. When he woke up, it was dark. Lincoln couldn't tell where he was. He tried to get up, but he was restrained to the floor or something. He tried moving his arms and hands away, and that failed. He tried moving his legs and feet away, and the same outcome occurred. He felt like he was restrained in a begging position. His knees were on the floor and his hands were chained together while at the same time chained to the floor as well.

Lincoln felt around the floor with his hands, and found that he was restrained over some sort of grid. There were holes in all the slits. Lincoln assumed water went through this… but why was he right on top of it?

Suddenly a bright light appeared above him. Lincoln looked up and saw that a skylight was opened. He took that chance to look around and saw that he was in a very barren room. The only thing that stood out really was the singular door in front of him and the large window at the side of the room that allowed him to see the other room connected to this room. Lincoln looked at himself to see that he was stripped of all of his clothing except for his underwear, much to his embarrassment. He looked away from himself and to the flooring he was on to notice that he was on a very specific part. While the rest of the floor was a cold concrete flooring, he was on a circular drain gate. His hands and legs and feet were chained to it.

Lincoln tried to struggle out of his binds, when he heard the sounds of walking outside the room. Soon, the door opened and revealed General Scott entering the room. She looked to the side of the room, which made Lincoln look as well. He saw the rest of the kids, including Emily on the other side of the huge window. They could see him in his most worst moment. Lincoln wanted to cry. He felt so violated, and all they did so far was strip him down and bind him to a specific spot.

"Lincoln Loud. Do you know why you are here?", General Scott asked.

"... Yes, General Scott. I'm here because I didn't follow the rules."

"No."

Lincoln's eyes widened. He looked up to General Scott with confusion evident in his eyes.

"Wha-"

 ****BAMM!****

She stomped her foot as hard as she could onto Lincoln's back, causing him to keel over in pain.

"You're here because you disobeyed me. You tried to embarrass me in front of all of your fellow camp mates. You tried to make me seem weak. Make me seem easy to conquer."

"N-No, ma'am… That's not-"

 ****BAMM!****

Lincoln kneeled over once again when her foot kicked him in the stomach.

"You want to run this camp, Loud?"

"No, ma'am!"

"Do you wish to take what belongs to me!?"

"N-No, ma'am!"

 ****BAMM****

General Scott stomped on Lincoln's back once more. Tears threatened to fall out of Lincoln's eyes. All he could feel right now were pain and embarrassment.

"That's right. You don't. Because this is my territory. Whatever your parents taught you, doesn't matter here. Whatever your school taught you, doesn't matter here. All that matters is me. And that you're listening to me. Understood?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am…"

General Scott walked over to the window where all the children were watching, horrified at what was happening to Lincoln.

"Children… I think you're ready to know why this place is so isolated and strict. Camp Gor Mapr isn't just your average boot camp that you get sent to because your parents want you to be respectful and mature."

She stood at attention, getting everyone's attention on her.

"The reason our camps are referred to as the Boot Camp Project is because we are experimenting on the fragility of the child's mind. No one realizes that this is a project because we advertise ourselves as a normal boot camp where the tiny text at the bottom of the ad states that we have the right to do with you as we wish when you are sent here. We wish to mold your little insignificant lives into the life of a mindless drone that follows every order to the very end. I usually would not have to be the one to tell you, but I feel that this is the right moment to tell you. Not only is Mr. Loud going to go through a punishment that helps take away your individuality, but any hopes you had of going home at the end of the week will be pointless. Not only are we so far in the desert that no one can find you, but we've already sent emails to your families saying that you wish to stay a little longer to learn more about our program, and that you'll return when you can."

The children gasped and a various amount of emotions arose among them. A lot of them got angry and yelled at General Scott through the glass. Some were crying on the floor, dreading the thought of never returning home.

Lincoln stared at General Scott unbelievingly. He… wasn't going to go back home at the end of the week? He was trapped here? No. No. NO. NO! NO!

He wasn't going to be stuck here. He had a family that needed him. He had a family that he needed. He couldn't imagine life without them.

"NO!"

General Scott turned to Lincoln, a sly look on her face.

"You have something to say, Loud?"

"NO! You won't keep me here! I've got sisters to take care of! I've got parents to make amends with! I've got friends at school who will wonder where I've gone! You can't keep me here!"

Lincoln struggled harder to break out of the chains keeping him down to the ground. He wouldn't leave his family like that. He wouldn't disappear without saying a word to them. He needed to get out… He put all of his strength into pulling himself out. All he could think of was his sisters. Their teary faces at the realization he wouldn't be coming back home yet. His little sisters having to grow up without their big brother. He wouldn't let this stand.

Lincoln glared at General Scott.

"L-Let… me… GO!"

Lincoln pulled a part of his chain off, with the result being his hand starting to bleed because of all the pressure he put on them, but at least free from the embarrassing begging position he was in. If Lynn saw him now, she'd be proud. Lincoln tried to break the other chain. He didn't care if he bled. He wanted out.

 ****BAMM!****

Lincoln tried to withstand General Scott's kick to his stomach. He continued to pull at the chain, a little bit weaker this time.

 ****BAMM****

This time, Lincoln bent over in pain when General Scott stomped down on his back. This was all General Scott needed to try and take away his motivation and determination. She pulled out a rope and tied Lincoln's hands back into the drain gate.

"Be quiet, Loud. No one needs to hear your insistent whining."

Lincoln felt like throwing up, so he couldn't argue against her. Instead, he tried to escape the rope that bound him back to the drain gate. General Scott walked over the the other end of the room and grabbed a bucket.

"Loud, you have one more chance. I usually don't give a punishment this harsh, but children who are rowdy like you need this in order to become the strongest of the strong and be model cadets of the camp, following every order and every rule."

Lincoln couldn't look at her completely, since she was behind him and he was bound to the drain gate pretty tightly. However she could see the side of his face and one of his eyes. He was glaring at her.

"Take me home… Take everyone home."

"... You're not in a position to make demands, Loud."

Lincoln struggled to get out of his binds when-

 ****SPLASH****

"AHHHHHHH!", Lincoln screamed.

Ice cold water poured onto his back. He could feel every single drip crawl down his body, freezing him to the very core. When the water stopped pouring down his basically naked body, he shivered immensely.

"W-W-Wha- AHHHHH!"

Another bucket of ice cold water was poured onto his body. It was so cold, Lincoln's hands and toes became numb. He could feel his body rushing to keep him alive through this sudden change in temperature. His muscles contracted, his head was spinning, and his breathing rapidly increased.

If that wasn't already bad, another person entered the room. Lincoln looked up to see another woman. She was dressed in a military uniform of a higher status too. She was probably on a lower level than the general though, since General Scott commanded her to do something. Lincoln couldn't hear what they were saying. All he could focus on was getting warm somehow. He was reduced to his most primal instinct, and that was trying to stay alive.

Suddenly…

 ****WHIP! CRACK!****

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

Lincoln felt a sharp, stinging pain on the back of his left shoulder. It was indescribable. Lincoln had never felt this sort of pain before. It spread across his whole body, greatly weakening his resolve to try to survive this ordeal. He turned around and out of the corner of his eye, he could see the woman who had just entered the room holding a long whip.

Another bucket of ice cold water was poured onto him, and before he got the chance to get used to the change in temperature, the whip returned to scar his back. Lincoln screamed and screamed, hoping his screams of terror would convince them to stop, out of the moral fact that this whole situation was unethical and wrong. But they didn't stop.

Emily watched in horror as the strong-willed, smart, and kindhearted boy was being tortured right in front of her. She cried at the fact that this all happened because Lincoln wanted nothing more than to not fight her and cause her any sort of pain.

It went on for minutes, and then hours. Slowly, Lincoln could feel himself lose all rational thoughts. He couldn't feel any emotions. He couldn't be mad. He couldn't be sad. He couldn't think. He couldn't even keep his attention on the pain occurring to his back. He stared blankly at the drain gate below him, watching the ice-cold water drop off him and into the darkness below. He wished he could drop into that darkness along with it.

…

Lincoln and Emily sat in silence in their room as night fell upon the camp. After being "punished" for four hours, General Scott decided to forgive Lincoln for his disruption and postpone the examination to the day after the end of the week. For the rest of the week, everyone was to continue their daily runs and get used to life at camp.

Lincoln looked out the window, thinking of nothing but his family, and how he won't be able to see them at the end of the week. How he was stuck here in this horrid camp. How he couldn't even defend himself. It didn't help that every minute or two, his back would start stinging with pain again.

Emily stared at Lincoln the whole time. She felt horrible for the entire ordeal. She blamed herself for what happened to Lincoln. It was the most horrible feeling in the world to watch something like that happen to Lincoln. She wanted to say something to him, but she just couldn't. Especially after seeing that broken face on him after the realization that he'd never see his family again.

All of the sudden, a small ringing rang in the room. Lincoln perked up.

"What's that sound?"

Emily lifted her blanket and found her cell phone.

"Oh my god", Emily said.

"I thought General Scott took all of our phones and destroyed them in front of us?", Lincoln asked.

"I left mine in my room by accident… I think she assumed that I didn't have a phone…", Emily answered.

Emily took the phone and answered it.

"H-Hello?"

Lincoln couldn't listen in on the conversation. He understood why she was trying to be as quiet as possible though; if Emily was caught with that phone, she would be the next one to get "punished".

"W-What?... Yes, please! Thank you so much, sis! I'll keep my phone hidden… Please come get me and my friend! Yes, I actually made a friend here… Go to the GTS signal. We're really separated from anywhere that's populated… Thank you, Madison… Please come soon…"

Emily hung up.

"Who was that?", Lincoln asked as soon as she hid her phone away.

Emily looked up at Lincoln with hope.

"My sister did some research and found out that kids from this camp supposedly "join" the army on their own desires. But she knew that I would never hurt a fly, so she's coming to get me before they ruin me."

Lincoln smiled widely.

"She's coming to get you away from here!"

"Not just me, Lincoln. You too."

"W-What?"

"I'm taking you too. You saved me from the pain of a fight, so I'm saving you from being stuck here. And once we're out, we'll find a way to save everyone else here!"

Lincoln thought about it for a second. If he and Emily tried to escape, they would surely get punished to the most harshest extent. If she had offered this to him earlier, he would have been all up for it. But for the first time since he's gotten here at camp… He felt scared. He didn't ever want to go through that tortuous ordeal again. And if he were caught trying to escape, he was sure that his punishment would be even more severe than it was earlier that day…

But… he had to try. He had to hope. He couldn't let any other kid go through what he had gone through today.

Lincoln turned to Emily with a look of full resolve.

"I'm in, Emily."

:

 _Day Seven_

:

It was in the middle of the night at Camp Gor Mapr. Everyone was dead tired and asleep because of the rigorous running drills the last few days after Lincoln's punishment in front of everyone. Lincoln stopped caring about the punishment that occurred days ago, even though the stinging pain still hung around, and focused on what he and Emily were going to do that night.

It was confirmed by Emily's older sister that she would be there by Friday. Emily couldn't wait to get out of the camp. Lincoln agreed. He missed his family so much. Right now, Lincoln and Emily were packing up their stuff, and getting ready for their escape.

"Lincoln… I really mean it this time when I say… I'm really scared."

"Don't worry, Emily. We have a plan this time. We've got a chance for freedom! Don't focus on your fear. Focus on the chance of being out of this hellhole."

Emily nodded and smiled at Lincoln. He returned the smile. They picked up their now stuffed briefcases and quietly left their dorm building.

Lincoln and Emily looked around the camp as best they could. In the dark of the desert, no one could even see their own hand in front of their faces. If it weren't for the ambient lighting coming out the insides of the buildings, Lincoln and Emily would be blind.

They walked towards the chain-linked fence and looked for any indication of Emily's older sister's car. Suddenly, a flashlight shone on the two. Lincoln and Emily stared like a deer in the headlights at General Scott and her co-workers, who were looking down at them with a glare evident in their eyes.

"Where do you think you two are going?", General Scott snarled.

"N-Nowher-", Emily started before General Scott interrupted her.

"Bullshit! You two are trying to escape my camp! I'll have you know that no one has ever been able to leave my camp without my permission: dead or alive."

Lincoln glared at General Scott and her followers.

"Well, we're going to be the first then!"

Lincoln quickly reached down, grabbed some sand, and threw it into General Scott's face. As soon as she tried to clean away the sand from her eyes, Lincoln grabbed Emily's hand and ran. The co-workers tried to help General Scott.

"Idiots! Don't worry about me! Go get those two cretins!"

They immediately took chase after Lincoln and Emily. Lincoln ran around the insides of the camp with Emily, looking either outside for Emily's sister's car or behind them to see how close the co-workers were to catching them.

Something in the distance caught Emily's attention, so she called out to Lincoln to get his attention.

"There she is! I see her, Lincoln!"

Lincoln looked out the fence to see that Emily was right. He saw a lone car out in the night of the desert with its lights on, and a woman in front of it waving to the two frantically, noticing that they were in trouble.

Lincoln grabbed his briefcase and threw it at the co-workers still chasing them. It caught them by surprise, and the briefcase ended up opening up midway and tangling then in Lincoln's various items.

"I got them distracted! Quick, Emily! Climb the fence!"

Lincoln and Emily started to climb the fence. Lincoln almost made it over when he noticed that Emily barely made any progress.

"Emily!? What's going on!?"

"I-I can't, Lincoln! I'm not strong enough! Please! H-Help me!"

Lincoln reacted quickly and tried to pull Emily up from where he was. Unfortunately he didn't have the strength to pull her up to him. Lincoln jumped off the fence and tried to push her up the fence. Slowly, she moved up the fence, at seemingly the speed of a snail's pace. Lincoln needed her to go faster.

"Come on, Emily! Pull yourself up!"

"I-I'm trying!"

Lincoln looked over his shoulder and saw General Scott running towards him and her. He also saw that the two co-workers were almost done with removing the various items tangled to them. Lincoln had a split second decision at this point; and he made his choice.

"Sorry, Emily… Remember me fondly, okay?"

"What are you talking about Linc-"

Lincoln pushed Emily with all of his might and basically threw her over the fence. As soon as he did, General Scott grabbed him by the arm. Emily turned to look at him, probably about to go back and try to save him. But Lincoln knew that he was done for. He put on a serious look and looked at Emily. He opened his mouth.

"RUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"

Lincoln yelled so loud that it stunned General Scott and her two followers, and scared Emily into immediately running away from the fence and to her older sister's car. When Lincoln stopped yelling, he stole a peek at Emily running away from the camp. He watched her figure grow smaller and smaller as she went further and further away from him. He saw her turn back to take one more look at him. Tears were in her eyes, and he could see that she was trying to apologize. Lincoln smiled at her.

"I'm glad… you made it out, Emily…"

 ****WHIP! CRACK!****

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Lincoln fell to his knees as soon as he felt an excruciating pain to his back. He turned around to see General Scott sending a deathly glare to him. She was holding a whip. That was probably the thing that caused so much pain to Lincoln's back, judging by the sound that was made when the pain appeared on Lincoln.

"Mr. Loud… you've made a grave mistake."

One of her co-workers took out what appeared to be a baton. Lincoln closed his eyes and accepted what was going to happen to him. He failed. He couldn't make it out of the camp. He was still stuck there…

 _'Sorry… everyone. Looks like… I won't be able to go home yet.'_

The co-worker swung the baton at the back of Lincoln's head. Everything faded to black.

**Flashback Ends**

* * *

 **I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! In honor of me reaching my fourth chapter and the fact that I have so many people favoriting and following my story, I decided to draw the characters as I pictured them and post it to my tumblr. So if you want to check them out, please do! I'm going to draw the other girls as well sooner or later.**

 **Here's what's the website is called:** **devustumblugh . tumblr . com (Ignore the spaces. Every time I typed in the link it disappeared.)**

 **I'm sorry, I have no idea how to make the link clickable on Fanfiction. Even if that's possible. xD**

 **Once again, thank you for all your support! I'll see you all next chapter.**

 **P.S. Feel free to ask questions on my Tumblr as well. I am open to questions for now until I forget once again that I have a tumblr.**

 **P.S.S** Author's Note: I FORGOT TO GIVE CREDIT TO "VirusChris" for the "Fan-Linc-Tion" pun this chapter. I totally meant to give credit but I absolutely forgot. I am very sorry, Mr. VirusChris.


	5. Lori's Arc Part 3

**I forgot to give credit to "VirusChris" for the "Fan-Linc-Tion" pun last chapter. I totally meant to give credit but I absolutely forgot. I am very sorry, Mr. VirusChris.**

* * *

 **-** _ **Fall of the First Forbidden Flower: Part 3**_ **-**

Lincoln couldn't breathe. He couldn't continue his story anymore. Recalling his history felt detrimental to his mental and physical health. He felt like the world was collapsing on him again, just like how boot camp made him feel. Just like how… General Scott made him feel. He moved away from Lori's loving embrace and started to hold his chest tightly. He started to remember what happened to him after his attempted escape. His chest convulsed, begging for the air that Lincoln just couldn't supply at the moment.

"L-Lincoln!", Lori screamed.

She grabbed Lincoln close to her again and rubbed his back, trying to calm him. Lincoln wanted to scream as soon as he felt contact on his back. But his mind had been fortified over the eight years to keep him from breaking down fully. He needed to stay sane… After all, it was Lori comforting him… Not the general's ruthless punishments.

Tears fell down Lincoln's face again. He felt so embarrassed. He was trying to be a more strong and mature brother for his sisters, but as soon as the subject of boot camp was brought up, he'd become weak with trauma.

"Lincoln… what did I tell you before you told me your story?", Lori asked, noticing Lincoln crying quietly on her shoulder.

Lincoln was silent for a moment, before he responded to Lori's question.

"Y-You told me that you wouldn't judge me and that you wanted to help me."

"Erhm… I meant before that actually, Lincoln."

"O-Oh! Well, you told me that you didn't need me to be a hero or a macho-man. You just needed me-"

Lori kissed Lincoln's cheek, surprising him greatly and shutting him up. Lincoln rubbed away his tears on his arm and looked at Lori, who was giving him the most heartwarming smile he'd ever seen her give.

"To be happy, Lincoln. I need you to be happy. It's literally not okay to me if you aren't happy. I want to help you, okay?"

"B-But, Lori… how can I protect everyone if I'm weak?", Lincoln asked worriedly.

Lori noticed that the tone in his voice changed into a more drone-like tone when he mentioned the words protect and weak. He had said it as if he were programmed to say that. Lori held Lincoln's cheek like a mother would.

"Protect us from what, Linky?", Lori asked kindly, "The most dangerous thing here in Royal Woods are sleezy guys. And I'm sure all of us can protect ourselves from those sorts."

Lincoln had a look on his face that told Lori he had a lot of thoughts going through his subconscious. Lori was right. There was no need to be how he was at boot camp here. He didn't need to be on high alert every night for any trouble. He just needed to be there for his family now. He didn't have to risk his life anymore. He had to make up for the time he lost with his sisters, who missed him dearly.

Lori saw Lincoln's body relax and let out the tension in his joints. He was no longer clenching any part of his body. The only thing that was on Lincoln's mind now was love and compassion, not hatred and angst. Lincoln looked up to Lori and grinned a heartwarming smile at her. His smile was so innocent that it made Lori want to cry.

"Thank you, Lori… for listening to me and helping me through this. I love you.", Lincoln said, a blush growing a little on his face as he said the last three words.

Lori's heart almost burst with love once she heard Lincoln's sincere gratefulness.

"No need to thank me, Lincoln. I'm literally always here for you, because I love you too."

Lincoln hugged Lori tightly, one she gratefully returned. Lori noticed however, that Lincoln was fidgeting a little. She felt him press against her chest, but thought nothing of it, as that was to be expected of a full-on front hug. She also felt something rub against her belly and grow a little, but chose to ignore it as well. It was probably just her imagination. After a little, Lincoln ended the hug with a somewhat fake yawn that Lori was not aware of. He rubbed his eyes and put on a sleepy face. Lori noticed that he was blushing a little, which caused her to blush a little as well.

"I-I'm getting sleepy again, Lori… I think I'm gonna turn in for tonight. G-Good night, Lori."

Lori patted Lincoln's hair with a motherly smile.

"Good night, Linky."

Lincoln headed up the stairs, leaving Lori alone with her thoughts in the kitchen.

After she couldn't see Lincoln anymore, Lori started to cry. She didn't want to believe that all that happened to Lincoln… and that was just his first week! He had to go through eight years of th-

Lori couldn't hold it in anymore. She ran over to the kitchen sink and threw up. Just thinking about her little brother being tortured like that made her feel horrible. She rewound the image of Lincoln being chained to the drain gate below him, him being showered with waters of freezing temperatures, and him being whipped all over his back, over and over in her head. She couldn't stop herself from rewinding Lincoln's torture over and over. It was like when you found a video with graphic content and you just can't help but watch it over and over, getting every detail of the disgusting subject shown on the video. Only this concerned someone so close to her… Someone who meant the world to her had been going through the worst torture his entire life… It was completely unfair. Lincoln only got sent to boot camp because he took the blame for the stupid plate for Lola.

Lori felt the urge to throw up again. She could imagine blood dripping down Lincoln's back from all the whipping he had been through. She couldn't imagine the amount of scars on his back… What if there were scars on parts of his body other than his- Lori bent over and placed her head over the sink, letting the despair in her body flow out of her once again. Lori cried harder, albeit silently as to try and keep everyone from waking up and noticing her. If everyone found out about what happened to Lincoln right now, they would all go ask him immediately for more details. That would be too much for Lincoln to take right now. He barely kept it together when only she asked him about boot camp. If everyone forced him to tell them all at once… Lori cringed. She didn't want to think about Lincoln being hurt anymore.

Lori got some water out of the sink and drank some without swallowing. She swished it around in her mouth and gargled it for a while before spitting it out. She did this until that foul taste left her mouth. Lori shook her head, washed her face and decided to head to bed for the night as well. She walked up the stairs and headed for her room. As she walked up the stairs, she thought about how Lincoln was still wearing his dad's old clothes from when he was Lincoln's age, and how Lincoln still had that military-esque uniform from his boot camp. When she got the free time, she wanted to take Lincoln to the mall to buy him some new clothes. Clothes that better suited his body, which Lori couldn't deny was very fit and handsome.

She entered her room and looked over to Leni's bed to smile at Lincoln, feeling happy that he was home and safe from that hellish boot camp, only to find that he wasn't sleeping with Leni. Leni was just reaching out for nothing, trying to grab onto her little brother who had disappeared from her embrace. A confused look grew on Lori's face as she looked around her room for any indication of her little brother. When she realized that Lincoln was nowhere to be found in her room, she left her room and looked around the upper floor for Lincoln.

She knew Lincoln wouldn't go into his sisters' room without their permission (even though they didn't care if he did; in fact they wanted him to enter their rooms more often uninvited) so she only had to check two places: the bathroom and his old room. Lori entered the bathroom and saw that it was empty. One last place to check. She walked over to Lincoln's room. The weird thing was, she hadn't seen him in there ever since he came back. He went in once to see if things were still the same and that was it. As Lori neared his room though, she started hearing weird noises. It was the sound of… grumbling… and heavy breathing?

Lori immediately got worried. She thought that Lincoln was crying and yelling to himself again for being "weak" as he would call himself. She quickly scurried over and was about to barge through the door to comfort Lincoln again when-

"L-Lori…"

Lori froze. For some reason, Lincoln was mumbling her name. She gotten even more worried than before. What if Lincoln had done something to himself that he would regret!?

' _Wait, wait… Lincoln wouldn't do that. He just told me in his story how he missed everyone so much. He wouldn't just leave us like that.'_

Lori was going to continue to think about what Lincoln was doing when a cool breeze blew by her and slowly opened Lincoln's door. It didn't open all the way, but it opened enough for Lori to sneak a peek in. Lori saw this as a chance to find out what Lincoln was doing, but her gut told her that invading her brother's privacy after he had just come back from boot camp was probably not the greatest idea.

"L-L-Lori…!", Lincoln whispered a little louder inside his room.

Lori steeled herself and decided against her better judgement to peek inside Lincoln's room to see what he was doing. As soon as her eyes set themselves on Lincoln, who was sitting on the side of his bed, she felt her face literally turn completely red as she put her hands to her mouth in surprise.

She had the entire view of the massive length and width that was attached to Lincoln's lower regions. The room smelled heavily of a sexual and steamy musk, coming off of Lincoln's wanting to be rid of his sinful desires. Lori watched as Lincoln stroked his member from the tip of its hood back to the bottom of his chest as fast as he could. Although he only used one of his hands, Lori could see that if he wanted to hold his manhood fully, he would have to use both of his hands. He tried desperately to reach the point of climax and feel that beautiful moment of pleasure that he was greatly deprived of at boot camp.

Lori couldn't help but sniff the scent that Lincoln was giving off during his session. It filled the room to the brim, and a bit escaped out the door that Lori was peering through. Lori thought of how it would have filled the entire Loud House if Lincoln hadn't opened his window. Lincoln's sexual and manly musk immediately turned Lori on. She felt a wet spot starting to form in her nether regions, as she watched her little brother pleasure himself.

Lori's hand crawled down her stomach, into her sweat pants, and under her panties. She started to rub herself, watching Lincoln's every movement, trying desperately to reach that point of climax herself. She usually doesn't pleasure herself, mainly because of the fact that it didn't feel as exciting to her as it did to most women her age. So watching Lincoln giving it his all was a nice bump in the right direction for her sexually.

However, her righteous and rational subconscious knew that this was wrong. She shouldn't be masturbating to her little brother masturbating. Heck, she shouldn't even be there watching every detail of Lincoln's private session with himself. Lori started to try and pry her hand away from her pleasure spot, wanting to forcibly remove any indication of those lustful desires in her mind. Then Lincoln uttered something that destroyed every bit of rationality in Lori's subconscious.

"L-Lori… you've become so beautiful… Ah! L-Lori… I-I want you so bad…"

Lori's face steamed with embarrassment and love, while her nether regions glistened and dampened even more with the pearly white liquid that was in the middle of escaping her body. Lincoln… was masturbating… to her?

' _Lincoln is… thinking of me while he's… doing… Oh God…'_ , Lori thought.

Lori threw away all of her rational thought and immediately started to massage herself down there once more. This time, however, she felt a passion that she had never felt before. A passion that Lori could unfortunately never have obtained during her time with Bobby. The excitement of the situation she put herself in by accident, the fact that Lincoln was jerking it to her, and the reality that Lincoln had grown up to be a handsome man while also keeping his nice personality… These three things were the last things Lori needed to break down her righteous barricade.

' _Gosh… Lincoln's… so big~! If that monster entered me… I'd break~! OH GOD!'_ , she thought, letting herself fall further and further to her lust.

Lori watched Lincoln with an erotic look. The area surrounding Lincoln's room was so hot now due to the combination of the two siblings pleasuring themselves, but the heat only further turned the both of them on. In the back of her mind, Lori wanted Lincoln to make eye contact with her and see how she was jilling herself off to him jacking himself off. If he had looked at her directly in the eyes, she was sure that he'd see hearts in the spot where her pupils should be.

"Ah! *Pant* *Pant* L-Lincoln… s-stroke it faster… m-make me cum~", Lori whispered, as if Lincoln was actually in front of her and stroking his massive length in the direction of her face.

Much to Lori's delight, Lincoln started to rub his massive length faster. Soon she noticed that he was using one hand to aimlessly reach out for something.

"C-Come on… where did I put those tissues?", he said.

Lori bit her lower lip and watched as Lincoln struggled to get the tissues on the drawer in front of him. When Lincoln reached for the tissues, his other hand shook with stress, trying to slow down the stroking of his still growing length. His face twisted into an emotion of annoyance and pleasure. Lori could tell he wanted to let it all out; but he couldn't let it out until he was able to keep his sinful juices from staining his room.

Finally, Lincoln was able to grab a couple of tissues and immediately stroked his glistening member faster. Lori almost fainted out of extreme eye candy, as Lincoln's new found speed made Lori soaking wet.

"L-Lori~! D-Do y-you *Pant* like that? Yeah, you like that, don't you? Yes, yes, YES!", Lincoln said to himself as quietly as he could as he also fell deeply into his lustful desires, with Lori being the main source of his sexual fantasy. Fortunately for Lori, she was able to hear everything. She was in pure ecstasy now.

Lori jilled herself even more faster, as she started drooling out the side of her mouth, wanting Lincoln's body and hers to join in one. She couldn't care less that they were related now. At this moment, it was just a woman watching the man she loved masturbate to her, and her masturbating to him in secret as he reached his climax.

"L-Linky~ *Pant* *Pant*"

"*Pant* L-Lori! *Pant*"

Soon, the two siblings went perfectly in sync with each other. However, where Lori tried harder and harder to reach the most pleasurable point in her session, rubbing the area where love is born from, Lincoln had no trouble in almost reaching his, as he pulled and pushed his pulsing rod back and forth with greater speed each time he went back and forth. Lori begged to herself to be able to match the timing of her climax with Lincoln's. If she were able to, it would literally be the best feeling in the world. Being able to let the pleasure overtake your body at the same time as your lover's… that truly was the best feeling in the world. Even if her lover wasn't her lover and happened to be her little brother who she was desecrating the privacy of.

"Ah! L-Lori… I lo- I lov- AH!", Lincoln yelled out a little.

Lori focused all of her attention back on Lincoln, and watched gleefully as he entered the final stages of his love practice. She didn't notice what Lincoln almost said. If she heard what Lincoln had almost muttered out and put the pieces together, she would have exploded with happiness. Lincoln kneeled over and pumped his love stick so hard and fast, Lori saw nothing but a blur connected to Lincoln. It made her want to just barge in and take him right then and there. She knew she couldn't do that, but a girl can dream, can't she?

Finally, Lincoln arched his back backwards, as he finally reached his climax, and let his lust flow out from his body into the tissue in front of it. Unfortunately, Lincoln underestimated how backed up he was and some of the Lincoln juice was beginning to escape the paper barrier in front of Lincoln's hot manhood. Lincoln stood up in fear and tried to reach out for some more tissues. But it was too late. Some of his liquid was able to escape and fly in different directions. One specific squirt flew out the small crack in his doorway and headed towards Lori.

It was as if time had slowed down for Lori, as she stared at the large white glob of Lincoln's sins in the form of a liquid propel towards her. Once Lincoln's sperm hit her face, she felt out every detail she could using only the spot of her face it landed on as reference. It was steaming hot. Lori flinched when her face suddenly went up in temperature. It covered up most of her cheek, so the heat spread rapidly across her head, and then to the rest of her body. It was so sticky, but it felt so good against her skin. It was just like lotion. A lotion Lori wanted to rub more of on her skin. As it dripped down her cheek, her nerves got out of control. Her body started tingling incredibly and, at that moment, her lust and desire spiraled together into an climactic explosion. Lori let loose, and she reached that pleasurable level for the first time in what seemed like ages. However, this time, the pleasure she had reached was the most amazing experience she had ever felt in her whole life. If she didn't cover her mouth with both her hands, the whole house would have heard her scream with pleasure. Soon the thrill of their sessions had finally reached the end of their high, and a silence once again filled the Loud House in the dead of night.

Lori breathed heavily as she laid against the wall next to Lincoln's door. Her hair was all messed up, and sweat covered every part of her body. She wasn't looking inside Lincoln's room anymore, and chose to close her eyes to take a minute to rest her still-fanatical mind. It was hard for her to focus on anything at the moment. All she could think about was the amazing feeling she had achieved when Lincoln's spunk covered the side of her face. She reached up to her face with one of her fingers and picked off some of the Lincoln juice and stared dreamily at it. She couldn't believe that all it took for her to reach that perfect feeling was for Lincoln to accidentally shoot some of his seed at her face. Lori didn't even hesitate when she decided to put it into her mouth to taste. She moaned as her tongue licked at the delicious Lincoln-flavored syrup. It tasted very sweet yet salty at the same time.

' _I guess Lincoln's diet is pretty healthy… That's good~'_ , Lori thought as she enjoyed the rest of Lincoln left on her face.

She would have stayed there in place longer to enjoy the taste of Lincoln if it weren't for the quick rustling of something in Lincoln's room. Lori immediately perked up and ran to the side of the stairs to hide from Lincoln's peripheral vision. Lincoln opened the door to his room and left the room and closed the door gently, walking in a fast manner to the bathroom. Once he got there, he quickly threw away the crumbled up tissue that contained his massive amount of juices, washed his hands and face, and ran back into Lori's and Leni's room. Probably to snuggle with Leni and hug her so she wouldn't wake up and wonder where he went. Lori wondered how he managed to escape her grasp the first time to go to his room.

Lori, surprised that Lincoln didn't even notice her hanging out at the stairs, sneaked over to her room and prepared to go to bed as well. She had a long day and night, and although that session watching Lincoln jerk it really helped relieve a lot of the built up stress inside of her, she still felt physically tired, and a good night's rest might be really helpful for her.

Lori entered her room and saw that Lincoln was fully asleep, and was casually hugging Leni tightly. It was as if Lincoln hadn't left the room earlier to squeeze his one eyed banana. Lori could see Leni had appreciated Lincoln coming back to hug her in her sleep. She was hugging Lincoln so tightly, Lori was worried that Lincoln might die of suffocation. But that worry died off quickly, since Lincoln looked content, and was still breathing normally. He really has gotten stronger if he's able to withstand Leni's bear hug. His muscles must be so hard…

Lori snapped out of her daze. She was just standing there staring at Lincoln, and if anyone saw her, they'd think she was creepy. Lori shook her head and was about to go to her bed when she realized that her panties and sweatpants were still soaking wet. She cringed and ran to the bathroom to take them off and wash out the sexual smell. She decided that she would put them down the laundry chute as if it were just ordinary laundry. It'll be dry when morning comes for sure. Lori blushed as she washed her undergarments carefully. She's never been this wet before...

* * *

When the morning came and passed and the afternoon started, everyone was left to enjoy their weekend, as they were starting school or work again the next day, except for Leni and Lincoln, and Luan in the mornings. Lori spent the morning trying to come up with a perfect "nature-ish" cake, and is still working on it when the afternoon started. The rest of the sisters wanted to spend time with Lincoln as much as they could that day, so Lincoln obliged. He was able to hang out with most of his sisters, fortunately.

Right now, he was hanging out with Lily for the second time, as he hung out with her for a bit this morning before going to hang out with the rest. He was getting to know her slowly, which both of them really appreciated. Lily found that she really loved having Lincoln around. She used to feel so pressured when she wanted to ask one of her other family members for something that she just ended up doing things on her own, giving out the misunderstanding that she was already an independent and mature girl. After this misunderstanding was cleared with Lincoln's return, her family apologized to Lily countless times over the past few weeks. They wanted to spoil her, but Lily made it clear she didn't want any pampering.

So instead of the pampering, Lily decided that she would have the first dibs in hanging out with Lincoln the first few weeks to get to know him better, to which the sisters forced themselves to agree to. And after the first week, Lily found that she couldn't get enough of Lincoln's attention. He was just the most awesome guy she's ever met. Most of the guys at her school were just disgusting and annoying. But Lincoln was respectful and very mindful. Sure, the whole age thing probably helped a lot too, but Lily preferred talking to older people anyway.

Lincoln looked around the room that used to be dominated with stuff from Lisa. Now that Lily was older, she got the rights to half of the room, while Lisa had to give up some space for Lily, which she begrudgingly agreed to. Lily's side of the room was much more colorful than Lisa's. She had drawings all over her wall, drawings that spanned from the time she started drawing to now, and her crib had been replaced by a comfy-looking, pink-mattressed, white bed.

Lincoln smiled as he looked at one specific drawing in her wall. It depicted a man in a suit in some sort of action pose. He didn't want to assume it was him, so he's been meaning to ask Lily about it. Now was the perfect chance to. He looked down at Lily, who was laying on her stomach on the ground, using pencils, pens, and colored pencils to draw something on her piece of paper.

"Hey, Lil?"

"Yeah, Lincoln?"

"Who's that in that drawing of yours", Lincoln asked as he pointed at the specific drawing.

Lily looked in his finger's direction and blushed when she saw where his finger's point landed.

"T-That one?", she asked sheepishly as she pointed in the same direction Lincoln did.

"Yeah! That drawing! Who is that guy? He looks so cool! Did you find yourself another big brother other than me?", Lincoln grinned widely, snickering at his stupid question.

Lily pouted, her cheeks puffing out to signify annoyance yet at the same time tolerance as well because of her obvious smile.

"No, Lincoln. There hasn't been any guy who's worthy of being my big brother. In fact, you're the only guy I've met that's been lucky enough to be worthy."

Lincoln chuckled and patted Lily's head.

"Hehe, really? Well, I thank you so much for giving me your blessing, oh great Lily.

"Pff~ You're so silly Lincoln! Honestly, even if you weren't my brother, you'd definitely be one of my closest friends!"

"It's because I'm mature like you, isn't it?", Lincoln joked.

"Oh geez, I'm not that mature, Lincoln! I'm still like every other kid my age. I just had to grow up a little bit faster is all."

"That's true… Sorry you had to be one of the people keeping the house in order, Lily. I can't even imagine how hard it must have been for you to be the laughter in a house full of tears. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you."

Lily put her hand on Lincoln, and gripped it tightly. She smiled up at him.

"That doesn't matter anymore, Lincoln. What matters now is that you're here to stay with us all from now on, right?"

Lincoln gripped her hand back, and smiled down at his smart and loving little sister.

"Of course, Lily. This time, I'm going to be the best darn brother in the whole world for you all", Lincoln said while at the same time, striking a pose that fit with his words. It was a little awkward though, since he was still sitting on the ground.

Lily couldn't help but snicker at this. Lincoln chuckled and waved her off.

"But anyway… who is that guy in that picture supposed to be?", Lincoln asked.

Lily pouted again and shyly looked away from Lincoln.

"T-That's what I thought you looked like before you came home."

"Wait… that's me?"

Lily shyly nodded.

Lincoln blushed with embarrassment and scratched the back of his head.

"Hehe, I guess you're kind of disappointed that I didn't turn out to be cool as that…"

Lily smacked Lincoln's arm playfully.

"Pff, you definitely look cooler than the guy in my drawing, Lincoln."

"Aww, c'mere, Lily~"

Lincoln held out his arms, and Lily immediately jumped into them, both of them hugging each other tightly. This always made Lily feel warm and fuzzy inside, but she didn't know why. When Lily backed up from her hug with Lincoln, she looked up at him to look as him more clearly. She wanted to see every detail of his face so that she'll never forget him again.

"So what are you working on there, Lily?", Lincoln asked grabbing the paper she was drawing on earlier.

"Oh! It's just a picture of you and I hanging out in the park."

Lincoln looked at the picture and saw a very well drawn picture of a man's back (probably him) and a little girl holding hands. They looked like they were having a lot of fun in this playground-ish area.

"Wow. WOW. This is so good, Lily!"

"Nah, you're crazy, Lincoln."

Lincoln looked at Lily as if she had lost her mind."

"Are you kidding me?! This is one of the best drawings I've ever seen!

"Please. You haven't even seen my other drawings, Lincoln."

"Ooooh, getting a little cheeky now, huh, Lily?"

"Oh gosh, be quiet!"

Lincoln smiled widely as Lily reached out to grab Lincoln's paper.

"What are you working on, Lincoln?"

Lily looked at it and saw a crudely drawn picture of a little girl smiling. Her face curled up into a sneer.

"Is… Is this supposed to be me?"

Lincoln noticed her sneer and did a little pout of his own.

"Hey! I worked really hard on that drawing of you!"

"PFF- BWAHAHAHAHA!", Lily immediately laughed.

Lincoln never seen Lily so happy before. She was on the floor and rolling around, trying to contain her laughter but obviously failing. Lincoln watched his little sister roll around with a smile that just emitted warmness. She eventually ended up calming herself down by falling into Lincoln's lap, and laughing into his chest. Lincoln took this moment to tightly hug her, making her laugh even more.

"Oh, you! Stop laughing! My drawing of you is the best drawing of you in this universe!"

"Pff, the sad thing is, it probably is the best one, since it's the only one~!", Lily yelled into his chest.

"Oh, you rascal you!"

Lincoln picked up Lily with ease and threw her up in the air above him, and caught her every time she fell back down. Lily loved this, as she started to cheer instead of laugh. It was a nice moment between two siblings who've been kept away from each other most of their lives.

…

Meanwhile, Lori had both her hands on her cheeks while her elbows rested on the kitchen counter. She blankly looked at the wall in front of her, just hoping inspiration would come out at her. The cake competition was in a week, and she still had no idea what how she would decorate her cake. She spent most of the day yesterday working on it with her sisters, and that went nowhere. Then she used up the rest of her day listening to Lincoln's history, and she did not ever want to recall what Lincoln told her had happened to him. But the one thing that stuck in her mind the most… was the moment where she watched him pleasure himself to her. She couldn't believe it… Lincoln was masturbating to her? So, she wasn't the only one who was carrying around sinful feelings, but Lincoln too?

It made Lori feel better. Ever since Lincoln came back, it's been hard for her to see him as just her brother. And she's been fighting that perspective since, just so her life at home could get back to normal. Unfortunately, she couldn't, and there were times where she would almost give in to her pleasure and jill herself off to Lincoln only to catch herself at the last second. The only time she successfully masturbated to Lincoln was when she found out that he had some sort of feelings for her as well, which happened to be last night. Thanks to Lincoln's masturbating session, Lori finally felt like she wasn't alone when it came to the situation of forbidden love.

' _Wait… Love? Did I… fall in love… with… NO! No, no, no! I can't be falling in love with him. I'm probably just really horny, that's all! Yeah! It's all lust! It doesn't mean anything when I say that I think about him a lot more than ever…"_

Lori grabbed her hair in frustration. Even though a great weight had been lifted off her, another one was just added to the pile. She had the trouble of coming up with an idea for her cake, and now she has the problem of falling in lust(or love?) with her brother. Too much was happening at once for her. All she wanted was just some clarity and peace… Just somewhere to take her mind off of things…

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Lori looked up and turned to face the person who had just placed their hand on her shoulder. Sure enough, it was the person who's been stuck on her mind: Lincoln. If it were any other time before that special night, Lori would have jumped out of fear and made some excuse to get out of the same room Lincoln was in. But, knowing that Lincoln had some sinful feelings towards her too made her calm around him now.

"You alright, Lori?"

Lori sighed.

"Yeah… it's just… I can't come up with anything for the cake! …*Sigh* But whatever… What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be hanging out with Lily right now?"

Lincoln pulled a chair from the dinner table and sat next to Lori.

"I was, but I was wondering how you were doing. So I asked her if I could hang with you now. She let me."

"Look, Lincoln… I appreciate your concern, but our sisters also want you to hang with them too. I'm fine. I'm the oldest sister after all, so no need to worry about me."

"I know… but I can't help but worry. I want to help you, Lori! Besides… don't you want to hang out with me too?"

Lori smiled at Lincoln when she noticed his jokey tone and remark, and wrapped her arm around him, to which he responded by doing the same to her.

"Of course I do, twerp. Gosh… when did you become such a man…"

"I'd say… four years ago? Maybe three honestly."

"That was a rhetorical question, Lincoln", Lori said as she rolled her eyes.

Lori and Lincoln laughed at that. Then it got quiet as they enjoyed each other's company and the sounds of their sisters doing their pastime activities. Lori closed her eyes and rested her head on Lincoln's shoulders. It was nice for Lori since her lustful feelings weren't acting up like they usually would when she set her eyes on Lincoln. Lincoln looked out the window and to the sky. He loved how tranquil the sky looked sometimes. It was just the sort of peace and quiet that Lori needed… Wait. A smile grew on his face as an idea popped inside his head.

"Lori. Would you like to go on a small trip with me today?"

Lori opened her eyes and looked up at Lincoln with confusion, with her head still on his shoulder.

"A small trip?"

…

A white car with a blue streak at the bottom sides of the said car drove down a dirt road. At the wheel of the car was Lori, and to her side and on the passenger seat, was Lincoln. Lori was still wondering where Lincoln was giving her directions to. Before they went, Lincoln made sure to pack a bunch of stuff, and told her that it was going to be a surprise along with where they were going. He did give a hint to her that they were going somewhere away from the reaches of humankind, so she assumed that it was going to be the natural environment, or something. She wouldn't really know though; she's never been on an outing to an actual natural environment before.

"Alright… turn right here, Lori."

Lori steered the car to the right, and sure enough, there was another dirt road. Lori had to admit that driving in this area was pretty nice. Around them were many environmental stuff. Trees, bushes, the occasional animals. It was beautiful. Lana would love this place. Lori would have appreciated it more if she didn't have to keep her eyes on the road just in case an animal jumped in front of her car.

"So, now can you tell me where we're going?"

"Don't worry, it's a surprise! And we're almost there! Now… turn left here."

Lori turned left and drove onward. Soon, the dirt path started to show signs of ending. When Lincoln noticed this, he looked over to Lori.

"Alright, you can park the car around here."

Lori nodded and stopped the car. After an hour of driving, she and Lincoln had finally reached their destination. Lori stepped out of her car, and Lincoln followed suit, carrying a backpack with him..

"Are you sure it's safe to park my car here?"

"Yeah! Don't worry, no one ever comes out here."

"How do you know?", Lori asked, caution evident in her tone.

"When I was heading home from boot camp, I ran into this area by accident. Not one sign of human activity here. No cabins, campsites, nothing! That's why the dirt road ends here. Because to the human mind and public, this is the end. But for us, this is only the beginning. And I found this amazingly beautiful lake. I think you'd like it a lot, Lori! Come on, follow me!"

Lori shook her head and smiled. After she locked her car and made sure it was safe, she walked side by side with Lincoln as they headed to the place where Lincoln ran into by accident a few weeks back. She took a look at the area they were in. It really did feel like this area had not been touched by the hands of humans. It was rare to find a place like this in this day and age. Their surroundings were dense with trees and bushes, and the ground was decorated with fallen leaves, grass, and beautiful flowers. Lori felt like she was in a wonderland of sorts. And Lincoln was the white hare that she was chasing.

"We're here!", Lincoln suddenly said to Lori excitedly.

Lori looked away from the environment to look at what Lincoln was talking about. Her eyes went wide open.

"Oh my god."

Lori and Lincoln stood in front of a magnificent and large lake. The sparkling, clear water came from the top of a beautifully carved out waterfall. Although the waterfall wasn't too large itself, there were many separate waterfalls above it, as it made a sort of stairway of water. The grass surrounding the lake looked like it was in perfect health, as the green stood out a lot more than usual. The grass was probably healthy due to the beautiful condition of the water and soil. The soil looked soft and full of life, while the water was so clean that it was able to perfectly reflect the sun and the sky above. Lori could see that this place was a very popular spot amongst the animals to gather around as well. She could see ducks swimming mindlessly in the middle of the lake along with geese and other various birds. She would see schools of fish from time to time enjoying their swim below the surface of the water. Deer, foxes, and other mammals walked in and out after getting a drink from the pure water, untouched by the pollutants of humankind. She could have sworn she saw a bear at one point too, but fortunately it was on the other side of the lake.

Lincoln grabbed Lori's hand and pulled her closer to the lake, to which she happily followed to. She couldn't believe a place like this existed near her home all this time. It was just so peaceful here. The only noises that you would hear are the sounds of rushing water, various animal screeches, and the wind blowing against the leaves. It was nice… Lori really needed a place where she could relax and let loose, and Lincoln showed her the perfect place to do just that.

"So, you're telling me that you just "happened" to stumble upon a place like this, Lincoln?", Lori sneered jokingly.

"Yep! No lie. I was walking home from boot camp from say… that direction", Lincoln said while pointing across the lake, "and I kind of got lost, so I ended up here."

"Wait… You walked home from boot camp?"

"Ehhh… that's a long story in itself… maybe I'll tell you another time."

"Hm… *sigh* Of course, Linky… I wouldn't want to force you to tell me."

"Thanks, Lori."

"You're welcome, Lincoln."

Lincoln sat down on a soft surface of grass, and patted the spot next to him while looking at Lori, signalling her to sit down next to him. She did and rested her head on Lincoln's shoulder once again. She took a minute to revel in the beauty of this lake and it's surroundings before giving Lincoln her appreciation.

"This place is amazing. Thank you for bringing me here, Linky. It's literally one of the best things anyone's ever done for me."

Lincoln brought Lori closer to her and snuggled lovingly with her. She couldn't help but blush at her little brother's sudden loving gesture.

"I could see you stressing out, Lori. Of course I'd try and make you happy."

"You're such a charmer, Lincoln~ Are you sure you didn't find yourself a girlfriend at boot camp?"

"C-Come on, Lori! Girls aren't my forte. Plus, I told you already! I didn't get much chances to meet any girls at camp."

Lori looked at Lincoln with a intrigued look, raising one of her eye brows.

"What about that "Emily" girl?", Lori asked.

"W-What about Emily?", Lincoln asked a little worried.

"Well… in your story… you and Emily did some pretty… sensual stuff, right?"

"S-Sensual!? I was just giving her a foot massage!"

"Yeah, I know. But you did say that she seemed… pretty dominating, right?"

"Y-Yeah… I guess."

"And you did say she had a certain look in her eyes, right?"

"What are you trying to get at here, Lori?"

"Don't you think that Emily… was getting… turned on by you?"

"WHAAAAAAAAAT!?", Lincoln screamed, although not loud enough to hurt Lori's ears.

"I'm just saying, Lincoln… from the way you described it, Emily was literally going through the stages of a woman being turned on by the man she loves."

"SHE WAS ELEVEN! I WAS ELEVEN! I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF SHE EVEN FELT LIKE THAT TOWARDS ME!"

"Hahaha, calm down, Linky. I'm just saying. You and her might have experienced some adult feelings at that moment without even knowing."

"Oh my god", Lincoln stated with a blank face as he finally put the pieces together, "I turned Emily on."

At this moment, Lori broke into laughter, which Lincoln blushed with embarrassment at.

Lincoln shyly looked away and waited for Lori to be finished laughing at him. Lori didn't laugh for too long though, and grabbed Lincoln with her arm, bringing him closer to her.

"Hehe, sorry, Linky. It was way too funny to pass up on."

Lincoln smiled at Lori, with a blush still apparent on his face.

"Yeah, it was pretty funny. I wouldn't have passed the opportunity to joke about it too if you did something with Bobby and didn't know how it affected him!"

They chuckled at that for a bit. Lincoln turned his head to Lori's and faced her.

"By the way… How's Bobby been? Aren't you guys, like, married now? I haven't seen him since I came back. Usually, it wouldn't even take a minute for you to start texting him. In that matter, I haven't seen you on your phone for a while either, which is pretty weird."

Lori looked up to the sky thoughtfully, with a relaxed and comfortable smile on her face.

"Bobby and I broke up about seven years ago, Lincoln."

Lincoln stared at Lori with the most shocked expression on his face he was able to give.

"W-What?"

Lori noticed his worried tone and quickly responded to give him some ease.

"Don't worry, Lincoln. We broke up on mutual terms. I wasn't as happy with him as I used to be. He wasn't as happy as he used to be with me either. We just weren't… satisfied with each other, I guess. We couldn't give each other that love that we had in highschool. After we had entered college, we sort of got distant from each other. It was then I realized that he and I had just loved each other over the idea of love, not because of each other."

Lincoln had to put his hand up to his head to take in the news. It was just so shocking to him. He never would have imagined in his entire life that Lori would break up with Bobby… on mutual terms no less!

Lincoln scratched the back of his head, laughing a little.

"I guess Clyde was really happy to hear that, huh?"

Lori scoffed a little and looked at Lincoln with a smirk.

"Don't even get me started on him. He tried everything to get me to date him. It was hilarious. It was the last year that I, that anyone in our house was able to really smile and laugh. We thought that Dad had accidentally sent you there for a year instead of a week, and your boot camp thing would only last a year and right after you'd come back to us. Turns out that you would be gone for eight years… After that certain amount had passed and you didn't come home, Clyde tried to get me to date him once again, and I got really mad at him and finally told him off. He got the picture and left me alone. Even though I apologized later, I still feel a little bad about it."

Lincoln, although a little sad that his friend had to go through the pain of being told of by one of his hugest crushes, patted Lori on the shoulder.

"Honestly, it's fine, Lori. Clyde can get a little crazy when it comes to you after all. I mean, I remember every time I mentioned you around him, he'd get a nosebleed and faint. What happened to him by the way? I tried to go visit him the other day, but he wasn't home. I also wanted to try and call him through my walkie-talkie, but Lana told me that most of my stuff had been broken by the "rats" that stole the stuff from my room, including my walkie-talkie."

"Clyde moved away, Lincoln. He had to move away to somewhere up north because one of his dads got promoted or something in their jobs. He felt bad that he wasn't able to say goodbye to you. If you were there at the time, I'm sure tears would have been shed."

Lincoln snuggled closer to Lori, needing her comfort to keep himself from getting emotional. Lori happily gave Lincoln that comfort.

"I'm sorry about that, Lincoln."

"It's fine… Lori. I just feel bad that I couldn't even say goodbye. I don't even have a way to contact him."

Lori hugged Lincoln tighter.

"It's okay, Linky."

Lincoln rested for a bit against Lori before saying something to her.

"I'm sorry about what happened with you and Bobby."

Lori laughed.

"It's literally okay, Lincoln. Like I said, Bobby and I broke up with each other with no drama. In fact, he and I still talk every once in awhile, just to check up on each other! So it's fine!"

"Oh, really?... Well then, that's good!"

"Yeah... it is!"

An awkward silence grew between the two. Lincoln blushed as he thought about how Lori was single now. He couldn't help but think about how things might have gone differently here if he weren't related to Lori. He'd probably confess to her on the spot. When he had started sleeping in the same room as her and Leni, he found himself slowly feeling something whenever Lori was around. He realized that he had some sort of feelings for her when he told her his boot camp history and she comforted him, and those feelings only got stronger when they were just enjoying each other's' company today. He felt complete when he spent time with her. Not only had she gotten more mature and beautiful, but she was much more kind and honest. She'd become more respectable and compassionate. She was just like a mother, and Lincoln adored that about her. It also didn't help that he hadn't seen her for so long. Because of that time he spent without her and the rest of his sisters, he had to grow up alone. So for all of his sisters to dote on him immediately after he came back, he couldn't help but see his sisters as really cute women hitting on him, even though he knew they weren't flirting with him at all. He was able to hold in his lust for most of his sisters, especially Lisa and Lily, but Lori was the only one so far to be able to slip through his defenses.

On the other hand, Lori was having the same issue. She had finally realized that she really did fall in love with her little brother. Lincoln had just become so strong-looking and handsome. If that wasn't enough, he was also the most likeable and most loyal man she's ever met before. Lincoln was just so… out of this world. He always wanted the best for others before, and he still did now. He always made time for others, even when it was selfish of them to take his time away. Heck, he saved Lola from eight years of torture. And he never blamed her for it. Lincoln was the perfect man. For the first time in the last eight years, she felt whole when Lincoln came home… and she felt like the most lucky girl in the world when Lincoln held her close.

A wind blew across their faces, causing them to close their eyes to protect them from any floating debris going into them. When Lori opened her eyes, she saw that Lincoln was facing her with his eyes still closed. He was probably planning to look in the direction of the wind or something. Lincoln opened his eyes before Lori could look away from his face and made direct eye contact with her. They immediately blushed when they looked into each other's eyes. It didn't help that they were still basically holding each other closely.

Lori gulped. She felt like it was the right moment to tell Lincoln that she loved him. Lori wasn't going to deny her feeling anymore. She knew that she truly loved him. As she looked over every detail on his face, she found that she wanted to wake up seeing Lincoln's face every morning next to her. She wanted him to be with her forever. She, unfortunately for Leni, wanted to take Lincoln away from her and be the one who got to sleep with Lincoln instead. Her sinful feelings no longer felt sinful to her. Now it felt just like a normal feeling of love. Love for her brother… no… her man.

"L-Lincoln?"

Lincoln perked up at his name.

"Y-Yeah, Lori?"

Lori moved her arm away from Lincoln and started to poke her index fingers together. Lincoln kept his arm around her to keep her comfortable, which really did help calm her down.

"I want to say that I'm… sorry.", Lori said, getting ready to confess her feelings to Lincoln.

"Sorry? For what?", Lincoln asked.

"I'm sorry… for being a horrible sister, because…"

A silence filled the air, making Lincoln get a little uncomfortable.

"Because of what, Lori?", Lincoln asked again, getting a little on edge.

Lori got herself in the right frame of mind by breathing in and out for a bit, before holding herself firmly, feeling like she had to try to keep her body from exploding out of anxiety. Lori looked up to Lincoln with a blush, donning a pair of dreamy and love-filled eyes as she looked deep into Lincoln's eyes. She had that look that made Lincoln's heart stop beating while at the same time clenching because of how cute she looked at that moment.

"Because of… how… I...I fell... for you."

Lincoln couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"F-Fell for me? Like, literally, right? L-Like how last week you told me that you fell down to the ground and wished for me to get me back home from boot camp? Hehe…?"

Lori kept her eyes on Lincoln, indicating to him that she was completely serious.

"No, Lincoln… Not literally. When I say that I fell for you… I mean that I… that I love you…"

Lincoln froze. Lori got extremely worried, but kept her hopes high.

"You mean, love as how you would love a brother, right?"

"N-No, Lincoln. Although I do love you as a brother… I found myself loving you… as a man."

Lincoln went quiet, scaring Lori greatly. Great. Just great. She ruined her relationship with Lincoln. She let the situation go out of hand because she felt too comfortable, and now Lincoln thought she was weird. Lori tried to think of a way out of this situation. Maybe she could still save their relationship as a brother and sister, She just had to think-

Lincoln brought Lori into a tight hug, surprising her.

"L-Lincoln?"

"Lori… I can't believe it. You… love me, like a man?"

"Y-Yeah! W-Wait, n-no! B-But, I d-do! B-But I don't-"

Lincoln grabbed her by the shoulders and looked deep into Lori's eyes.

"L-Lori!", Lincoln declared.

"Y-Yes?", Lori asked. She couldn't help but feel hopeful of what Lincoln might say next.

Lincoln clenched his eyes shut and gripped Lori's shoulders a little harder, being careful as to not hurt her. Lori could feel Lincoln trying to gather his thoughts and direct them towards her. He finally opened his eyes and looked at Lori with determination evident in his eyes.

"I-I… I-I… I also have feelings for you, Lori!"

Lori looked at Lincoln astounded.

"W-What?"

"I l-love you too, Lori!"

"N-No way… are you being serious, Lincoln?"

Lincoln moved closer to Lori, both of them feeling the situation go in a direction that they've been lusting to go to for awhile. Lori could feel Lincoln's breath gently hit her face. She felt euphoric.

"I'm serious, Lori. The last few weeks, I've been having trouble with keeping my feelings for you hidden. I just wanted to be a normal brother for everyone, but I couldn't help but see you as a woman, rather than my sister. You've just grown so beautiful and you've become so passionate about what you love… it amazes me so much how you've changed from a high school teenager to a woman whose presence demands respects… but in a kind way.."

Lori leaned in a bit closer to Lincoln as well, so he could feel her breath as well.

"I've been going through the same thing, Linky! I've been trying to keep my feelings for you at bay! But every time I see you, I can't help but fall deeper in love with you. You are the most gentle and handsome man I've ever met. You've literally done so much for everyone ever since you came back, and you don't even ask us for anything. We should be the one making you feel better, but instead, you're the one making us feel better! Now you're on my mind twenty-four/seven! I love you, Lincoln! I can't hold it back anymore!"

"I love you too, Lori! I can't hold it back anymore either!"

Maybe it was because of the environment they were in. Maybe it was because they were away from their family. Maybe it was because they were away from society and its conformities. Whatever it was, it helped Lori and Lincoln come clean to each other. And to their surprise, they both had fallen in an incestuous yet exciting love with each other.

"Lincoln!"

"Lori!"

Lori tackled Lincoln, bringing them both to the ground. Once they fell to the ground, Lori threw away all of her fears and worries. She pushed herself into kissing Lincoln. All of the sudden, the world around them came to a halt as Lincoln kissed Lori back. Lori held Lincoln's head in place, worried that he would try and move away from her kiss. Lori didn't have to worry for long though, as she felt Lincoln's hands hold her tightly and closer to his body. It felt magical.

Lori almost screamed with ecstasy when Lincoln started to use his tongue. She didn't want him to show her up, so she used her tongue as well. As their tongues wrestled with each other, Lori couldn't help but move her hands down to Lincoln's lower region. Since she was on top of him, she wanted to assert her dominance. She was the older one after all. She couldn't let her brother do all the work.

Lincoln felt as Lori's hand went farther and farther down his chest. He was about to ask her why when she suddenly went under his pants and into his underwear. Lincoln opened his eyes in shock and looked at Lori. Lori looked at Lincoln with a sexy and confident look, and continued to wrestle with his tongue using hers. Lincoln fell into a state of euphoria as well, as Lori started to stroke his manhood while at the same time, occupying his mouth, denying him the chance to ask Lori anything. Lincoln returned the favor by grabbing Lori's butt and squeezing it, making her moan in Lincoln's mouth. She looked at him with a erotic look, which turned Lincoln on greatly.

Lori could feel Lincoln getting harder down there, so she stopped kissing him to talk to him. She could see the disappointment on his face after she lifted herself off of him. She teased him a little by hovering above him, making him think that she was going to come back in for a kiss.

"Sorry, Linky… but I just wanted to know… How are you so good at kissing if you've never done stuff with a girl before?", Lori asked with an erotic look on her face.

Lincoln blushed heavily.

"I don't know. I'm just naturally good at it, I guess?", Lincoln smirked.

Lori could tell that he wasn't lying. There wasn't an indication or anything that told her he wasn't lying, but the serious look in Lincoln's eyes was all she needed as confirmation. Lori was about to lean in and continue to kiss Lincoln again when she remembered the bag that Lincoln had brought along to the lake with them.

"By the way, Lincoln. Are we going to use the stuff you packed in that bag?", Lori asked.

Lincoln looked surprised for a second.

"Oh, shoot! I almost forgot."

Lincoln, with Lori still on hovering above him, reached over to the bag that had been left forgotten next to him. He reached in deep for a specific item. A smile grew on his face when he finally grabbed the item, and pulled it out. Lori was surprised to see that he had brought a fancy bottle of some sort of beverage.

"Is that.. alcohol, Lincoln? That's so unlike you, you know? I'm very disappointed in you", Lori said while at the same time moving off of Lincoln with her arms crossed.

Lincoln laughed and took out two cups.

"Lori, I know better than to drink alcohol. This is just apple cider."

"Really?"

"I promise."

"Hm… let me try some then."

Lincoln poured out a cup of the apple cider for Lori and handed the cup to her. She drank some and immediately loved it. It tasted so sweet and fizzy. It was just like soda. Yep. Definitely not alcohol.

"Yep… This is not alcohol. Alcohol is much more bitter than this."

Lincoln smirked at Lori.

"How would you know what alcohol tastes like, Lori?"

Lori blushed with embarrassment when she realized Lincoln had caught her basically admitting that she had some alcohol before.

"S-Shut it, twerp! Just because I love you doesn't mean I won't literally show you why I'm the manager of a cafe!"

Lincoln started to laugh at this, causing Lori to forget about her embarrassment and start laughing too. When they stopped laughing, Lincoln pretended to wipe a tear from his eye jokingly.

"Hahaha… Please don't twist me into a pretzel, Lori."

"I won't, Lincoln. Trust me. Besides, I only tried drinking once. I'm not into the whole alcohol thing. I'm much more a fan of this cider you brought."

"Glad to hear it, Lori. Would you like to have some more?"

"Sure, Linky."

Lincoln poured some for Lori and then proceeded to pour some for himself.

"But I have to ask… why did you bring this?", Lori asked.

Lincoln flashed a heartwarming smile at Lori.

"Because! You need your mind to be at peace right now. You're worrying so much about the cake competition that it's starting to affect you mentally. Plus, you were fighting with yourself over the fact that you had feelings for me. You had so much stress building up in you. I needed to take you away for a few hours to help you recuperate."

"Aww, Lincoln! You didn't have to."

"No, but I wanted to!"

Lori went closer to Lincoln and kissed him softly on his lips. He happily kissed her back.

"So… does this mean… You and I are dating now, Lori?"

Lori shyly looked away from Lincoln and blushed. She couldn't believe this. She was an adult woman now, but Lincoln made her feel like a high school girl all over again.

"Of course! We just can't tell anyone… Is that okay with you, Lincoln?"

"Yeah! If being secretive will let me date you, I'll do anything."

"... But don't you think this is kind of… wrong, Lincoln? I mean… we're brother and sister.", Lori asked, testing Lincoln's resolve by acting like she was worried about their situation. In reality, Lori knew that Lincoln wouldn't care about the whole incest thing. He'd do anything for those he loved after all, whether it was familial love or incestuous love.

Lincoln put on a thoughtful look, before smiling heartwarmingly at Lori.

"What makes something wrong? The idea of something being wrong is molded by society. There's no such thing as morals in the world beyond humans. We created morals to keep order in our world. But sometimes…"

Lincoln held Lori's hands lovingly and gently, causing her to blush heavily. Lincoln continued.

"You gotta break the rules to be happy. Right now, I'm committing a major taboo, according to our society. But I'm happy. I'm happy that I'm in love with you. Aren't you happy that you're in love with me?"

"Y-Yes! Of course I'm happy about being in love with you, Lincoln!"

Lincoln kissed Lori's cheek.

"Then, there's nothing to worry about, Lori~ Besides… the way I see it, we've been separated for so long that we didn't get to grow up together. I grew up into a man, and you grew up into a woman. And when I came back… that's what I saw you as. A beautiful woman."

Lori wanted to cry. Lincoln was too perfect for this world. He really would have done anything for her. Lori watched as Lincoln was taking more things out of the bag such as a picnic blanket and some snacks. She wanted to remember this beautiful moment surrounded by this serene environment forever. It was just like a scene right out of a romantic flick. Like that one movie for example! What was it called agai-

 ****RING! RING! RING!*****

Something started to ring out of Lincoln's pocket, making him take it out and answer it. Lori noticed that it was a phone, and it wasn't any phone she'd ever seen before in the house, so either Lincoln had it already, or he or someone in the family got it for him. If she knew Lincoln had a phone, she'd be texting him all the time, checking up on him or sending him loving texts. Annoying? In a sense, yes. Loving? Yes as well.

"Hello? Luna? What's up?... Oh really? Yeah, of course I will! I'll be home in about an hour. Don't worry, I promise. I'll catch ya' later too, sis! See you soon!"

Lori walked up to Lincoln.

"What did Luna want?", Lori asked, a little envious that Luna had Lincoln's number and she did not.

"She said that it was her turn to hang out with me, so I've got an hour to get back home."

Lori tried not to show that she was clearly disappointed, but Lincoln was able to catch her sadness.

"Hey, Lori?"

"Yes, Linc-?"

Lincoln kissed Lori passionately, igniting her happiness once again.

"Let's set up a time and place for next time. I promise that next time… there won't be any interruptions."

Lori smiled warmly at Lincoln.

"I'll hold you to it, Lincoln. Oh yeah! One more thing, before we go."

Lincoln looked at her a little confused.

"One more thing?"

Lori took out her cell phone.

"Can I have your phone number?", Lori said sheepishly, a little embarrassed of how she acted like a shy high school teenager.

Lincoln smirked at her cuteness and placed his hand on his hips.

"Of course!"

* * *

 **Another chapter done! If things go well, the next chapter might be the last one for Lori's arc before I start the next girl's arc.**

 **Also, I drew Emily and posted the pic on my Tumblr, so if you want to look at what I think she looked like, please go check my tumblr page. I posted the link on my profile page. You just gotta get rid of the unnecessary spaces.**

 **But other than that, I've got nothing to report.**

 **Thank you for your support! I hope you liked this chapter and look forward to the next one.**

 **-Devumaru**


	6. Lori's Arc Part 4

_**-Fall of the First Forbidden Flower: Part 4-**_

The day of the competition was finally here. Lori sat nervously in the green room, just trying to keep herself from throwing up out of anxiety. She was dressed up like a chef; something that was required for the competition as a sort of a uniform, she guessed. She wasn't the only one in the green room; The rest of the five chefs, not including her, in the room were doing their own thing, like polishing their kitchen tools in preparation for the cake competition. Lori had to keep in mind that this whole thing wasn't a race. It was a matter of who's cake best fit the theme of nature. Unfortunately for Lori, she had a vague idea of what her cake would look like. She got bits and pieces of her idea of nature for her cake, but whenever she came up with an idea, it seemed like it wasn't cake competition material.

Plus, she couldn't deny the fact that she spent most of the week right before the competition hanging out with Lincoln in secret. After they had affirmed their feelings for each other, they started dating in secret. It was incredibly hard to do anything together though. They couldn't go anywhere public in fear of someone recognizing them, and every time they tried to spend time with just each other at home, they would have to act like they weren't doing anything out of the ordinary whenever their sisters or their parents were around. One time in particular, they were making out with each other in the bathroom…

**Flashback**

"L-Lori~"

"Linky~"

Lori pushed Lincoln against the bathroom wall, away from the bathtub and door. She was nibbling all over Lincoln's upper body, and rubbing her hands all over his abs over his t-shirt. She's always wanted Lincoln to strip so she could see his body in it's beauty, but he told her that he wasn't ready to show her anything yet. Lori understood completely, not wanting to force him into anything more than rough sessions of hot kisses. But in return, she wouldn't strip in front of him until he agreed to strip as well, which really disappointed Lincoln, but he happily agreed to the terms. Lori couldn't help but be the dominating one in their relationship. Lincoln, although probably much stronger than her, just gave off an aura of vulnerability when it came to anything that had to do with girls. She had to take advantage of it. And she knew that Lincoln liked it alot when she was a little rough with him, even if he would never admit it.

At this moment, Lori was suckling on his neck, probably planning to give him a hickey. The idea of marking Lincoln as hers turned Lori incredibly on. Lincoln on the other hand was massaging her back softly while at the same time whispering sweet nothings into her ear. This whole situation made Lori feel ecstatic. It was perfect for the two of them that morning because her classes were cancelled that day, so they planned to be with each other until she had to go to work in the afternoon. Everyone was either at school or work, Leni was still asleep, and Luan was in her room working on something. It was just perfect for the two.

"L-Lori… W-Why are you sucking on that one spot on my neck?"

Lori licked the spot on Lincoln's neck before replying to Lincoln.

"Because, I want to leave a mark that says you belong to me~"

Before Lincoln could say anything, Lori quickly went back to suckling his neck, making him openly moan out a little. Lori couldn't help herself. After trying to hide her loving feelings and her lustful feelings for so long, only to have Lincoln actually also be in love with her, her defensive barrier that kept her rational thoughts up immediately crumbled, and she had her way with Lincoln whenever he was around. Fortunately for Lori, Lincoln thought the same way, although not as aggressively as she did.

"Ah~!", Lori moaned.

Lincoln had started to massage her voluptuous peaches roughly and gently in succession with each other. Lori looked up to Lincoln with love in her eyes. Lincoln quickly took that chance to start to passionately kiss Lori as well as massage her wonderful behind. Lori absolutely loved this feeling. Lincoln was willing to do anything for her, even when it could potentially expose their relationship to the world. Leni and Luan were still home, so Lori expected Lincoln to just act natural and not take the risk, even though they both wanted to go all out. But Lincoln was the one to actually ask Lori into the bathroom, surprising her greatly. Once Lincoln took away all of her fears and worries, she turned into a lustful siren who wanted Lincoln all to herself, and that's when she attacked him lovingly in the bathroom.

All of the sudden-

 ****Knock, Knock, Knock!****

"Lincoln? Are you in there?", Luan asked worriedly, "You haven't come out all morning since everyone left. Are you okay?"

Lori and Lincoln froze. Their hearts stopped as they looked at the bathroom door with fear. Lincoln gulped. He knew he had to make some sort of distraction so that Lori could leave the bathroom without Luan noticing that she was in there with him.

"L-Luan? Oh! Sorry! I was in the middle of taking a long bath. If you want, I'll get out now!", Lincoln said, hoping that Luan would fall for his lie.

"N-No! It's fine, Lincoln! I just wanted to know if you were okay, and if… you would hang out with me this morning?"

Lincoln looked over to Lori, who was glaring at him, knowing that he was going to say yes. Lincoln apologized to Lori by kissing her softly against the forehead. Her glare lessened, but she still put on a pouty face.

"Of course, Luan! When I'm done here, I'll meet you in your room, so could you wait there for now?"

"Y-Yeah! Thanks for agreeing to hang with me, Lincoln!"

"Anytime, Luan! I'll catch you in a bit!"

After they waited a few moments and realized that Luan had left, Lori pinched Lincoln's arm a little.

"Ow! Lori!? What was that for?", Lincoln almost yelped.

Lori crossed her arms and pouted.

"I wanted to hang out with you all morning…"

Lincoln chuckled at the sight of Lori acting like a high schooler. He wrapped her with his arms lovingly and kissed her repeatedly wherever he could. Lori couldn't help but smile at the love Lincoln was giving her.

"I'm sorry, Lori. Don't worry… Soon, I'll find the perfect day for you and I to spend quality time together, okay?"

Lori giggled.

"Alright, alright! Just stop nibbling my ear!"

Lincoln reacted by continuing to kiss both of her ears.

"L-Lincoln!", Lori said happily with a higher pitch in her voice apparent to Lincoln, indicating to him that she loved it when he nibbled there.

"I love you, Lori~"

"I love you too, Lincoln~"

"I love Linky too!"

Lori and Lincoln froze once again when they heard Leni suddenly talk from behind the door.

"L-Leni!?", Lincoln asked, fear entering his voice once again that day.

"Good morning, Lincoln! So, like, why is Lori in there with you?", Leni asked with innocence.

Lincoln gulped. His and Lori's cover was blown. If Leni attracts Luan's attention, then Lori and Lincoln would have to be split apart and one of them will probably be kicked out of the house. And it would most likely be Lori since no one wanted to do anything to hurt Lincoln.

"W-We're cleaning the bathroom, Leni!", Lori said quickly.

"Together with Lincoln? While the bathroom door is locked?", Leni asked. Lincoln could just imagine her putting her finger to her face in confusion.

Lincoln added to Lori's explanation.

"Yeah! I agreed to help her clean the bathroom for a drive somewhere. W-We locked it because… uh... t-there's a s-spider in here, Leni! We're trying to find it and we didn't want it to esca-"

"EWWW! A SPIDER!? GET IT AWAY FROM ME!", Leni screamed.

Lori and Lincoln heard Leni run across the hallway and down the stairs. Lori quickly kissed Lincoln on the lips, ran out the bathroom and to her room. Lincoln on the other hand had to take a quick shower so Luan won't ask why he was dry if he had taken a bath. He could have made some excuse to why he was dry, but he was a little tired of making excuses.

**Flashback Ends**

Lori sighed. She really wanted to spend time with Lincoln right now. Maybe it was a mistake to have entered this competition… Suddenly, her phone rang out with a small ding. She took it from her pocket and checked what had caused the ding. Her face immediately morphed into a smile. The phone lock screen displayed a text that had just been sent to her from Lincoln.

The text read, "I'm rootin' for you, Lori! Go for the gold! … P.S. I love you~ :D"

Lori wished Lincoln was there so she could hug him with all her might. She put her phone away and held her fists in the air with a newfound determination, pumping herself up for the competition before her. A lady sitting next to Lori raised her eyebrow at her, frowning at her as if she were doing something disgusting.

"What are you doing?", she asked Lori in a conniving voice.

Lori froze and sat still once again to keep up an authoritative image. She turned to the lady next to her. She was dressed in a chef's uniform like her, only she looked ten times more professional than Lori ever could. Her long, brown hair was curled up and her eyes fit perfectly with her disgusted face. Unfortunately, she was what many would consider a pretty woman: tall, light-colored skin, a well-rounded and toned face; the works. And it didn't help that she was a foreign lady as well.

"O-Oh, don't mind me. I'm just literally anxious for the competition, that's all", Lori replied.

The lady scoffed.

"How dare you talk to me as if I were your friend. I didn't go to culinary school both abroad and at home for seven years for a commoner such as you to address me in that sort of way!", she said conceitedly.

Lori felt extremely annoyed by this random lady's rude tone of voice. She had just met her a second ago and she is already verbally attacking her. Lori wanted to argue with her but kept her cool. She was the minority here after all. Everywhere she looked, there were professional bakers in the green room, just doing whatever they wanted, and here she was, stressing over her first official competition and being pestered by some professional baker she's never seen before in her life.

Lori stood up and headed to the large table in front of the room to gather the stuff she needed for the competition. To her displeasure, the lady followed Lori to the table.

"Why are you even here? Can you not see that this place is meant for only the best of bakers?", she annoyingly asked.

"I got a proper invitation to join the competition from the big names running this whole thing, for your information", Lori answered, not even bothering to look at her.

"Now why would they ever let you in?"

"Because my cakes were good enough to get in, I guess."

"Good enough? There's no such thing as good enough. It's either the best or the worst. And I, Ximena Romina Caballero, am always the best."

"Ah, so that's your name, huh… I've never ever heard of you before… Are you sure you're really the best?", Lori said, snickering a little.

Ximena looked at Lori with a shocked look before switching to one of anger. She was about to rebut what Lori said and start something when one of the judges came into the green room.

"Alright, everyone! It's almost showtime! Please grab what you need and come out on stage!", she said.

Ximena walked away from Lori to go get her supplies. Lori grabbed most of the ones she already had set up on the green room table and left the room. She sighed.

' _Well… here we go, Lori'_ , Lori thought to herself as she left the room, as ready as she'll ever be.

What Lori and the other bakers did not notice was Ximena sneaking off to the corner with a phone in her hand. She puts it up to her ear after dialing a specific number.

"Listen up… If things don't go in my favor… get ready to do what you can to make the other contestants look bad. I cannot lose this. I need to win this competition. Understood?"

An agreed grunt sounded on the other line of the phone before they hung up. Ximena put away her phone and sneered to herself.

…

Lincoln walked side by side with his entire family. They were all talking about how exciting it was to see Lori compete in something like a cake competition. Lincoln chuckled. He never would have thought that Lori would get into baking. He always thought she'd be CEO of something, or a professional golfer. But a baker? Well, whatever. She's happy with where she is now. Plus, her cakes are really good. Lincoln got to try some once when he stopped by the cafe she's the manager of. It was like tasting a fluffy and frosty piece of heaven crafted into the form of a sweet delight.

Lincoln almost drooled. He caught himself though and shook away the thoughts of Lori's delicious cakes. He couldn't have drool on his face right now. It was Lori's big day. He needed to look his best for her. Also, he didn't want any drool to accidentally drip on the poster of Lori he had made to cheer her on. It was about half his size, big enough for Lori to be able to see from the stage. It took a while for Lincoln to make the poster, since he had to print out the poster piece by piece and tape them together. But it actually turned out pretty good, and it only took about twelve pieces of printer paper.

Lincoln turned to his family and smiled. He was extremely thankful to be able to walk with his family to one of his sister's events again. After missing eight years worth of his sisters' various events, to still be able to go to one made him grateful. He would have cried, but today was a day for encouragement and cheer. When they finally reached the inside of the buildings, they were happy to discover that they were early enough to secure front seats, which they gladly occupied as quick as they could. At least, it would have been quicker, had the sisters not start arguing about who got to sit next to Lincoln.

"I drove everyone here, so I get to sit next to my lil bro!", Luna stated.

"Please! If anyone's allowed to sit next to Linky, it's me! He'd rather be in the presence of his princess; not a loud, worn-out musician", Lola declared.

"What did you call me, Lola!?"

"You heard me!"

"Hey! You both are wrong! Lincoln would rather sit next to me! I'm his favorite sister after all!", Lynn asserted proudly, as if it were fact.

"Who says you're his favorite!? If anything, I'm his favorite! I do stuff with him that he and I both like! You force him to exercise!", Lana argued.

"That was eight years ago! It's different now! He can work out now! And you honestly think at his age, he'd play in the mud with you?"

"You take that back, Lynn! Of course Lincoln would play in the mud with me! The mud never gets old!"

"I think I should sit next to Linky. We're inseparable after all", Leni declared.

"Yeah, because you won't let go of him in bed! You already get to sleep with him every day and night. It's my turn now!," Luan affirmed.

"I don't sleep with him every day and night, Luan! I also sleep with him in the afternoons too!"

"Leave the stupid jokes to me, Leni."

"Honestly, this argument is completely simple-minded of all of you. It's inconsequential who gets to sit next to our dear Lincoln when this competition concludes. That being said, I believe that I reserve the right to ensconce myself next to Lincoln", Lisa said as she was about to sit herself down next to Lincoln, who felt embarrassed about his sisters fighting over him in such a public place.

But when Lisa sat down, she felt that there was something under her. She turned around to see Lucy with the same expressionless look on her face. Lucy pushed Lisa off gently and held Lincoln's arm.

"Sorry, Lisa. But I was here first. I deserve the seat as Lincoln's right hand. The spirits told me that I must sit next to Lincoln today to gain his favor."

"HEY!", the sisters arguing earlier yelled when they noticed Lucy sitting next to Lincoln.

Once Lincoln noticed that they were going into another argument, presumingly bigger than the last, he decided to go out the room to buy a bag of chips or something for everyone to help calm them down. Lincoln turned to Lily, who got to sit next to Lincoln on his other side, since she gets first dibs on him.

"Hey, Lily, could you hold my poster of Lori for me?"

"Of course, Lincoln! But why?"

"I'm gonna go get some snacks for everyone. I'm sure they don't care what I get for them, but do you want anything in particular?"

"Nah, you can get me whatever, Lincoln."

"Alright then. I'll be right back!"

Lincoln left the large auditorium and looked for a vending machine. He noticed that a lot more people were starting to arrive. It was amazing to see that Lori was participating in something big. Soon, a vending machine came in sight after Lincoln made a turn at the corner at the end of the hallway. He reached it and examined the cheap selection of snacks. It was always a pleasure to see snacks at a cheap price. He might have to come here more often just so he wouldn't have to pay for them full price at the grocery store.

As Lincoln continued to ponder about which snacks he should buy for his family, a woman walked up behind him, presumingly to buy a snack as well.

"Excuse me? Is there a bag of anything gummy in there?", she asked.

Lincoln perked up when he heard a woman behind him. He turned around to face her.

"Oh! Sorry I was in the way, ma'am. I was going to buy something for my sisters, but I didn't know what to-"

When the two locked eyes with each other, both of their eyes widened. Lincoln couldn't believe who he was seeing as he looked over the woman who bared an almost similar resemblance to Lori. The woman also had an awestruck look on her face when she set her eyes on Lincoln.

"C-C-Carol? Carol Pingrey?"

"L-L-Lincoln? Lincoln Loud?"

The two stood there staring at each other for a little before a smile grew on both of their faces.

"Oh my god. Carol!"

"Lincoln!"

The two hugged each other instantly as Carol started to cry on Lincoln's shoulders. Lincoln was set back a little by Carol crying on him, but hugged her instinctively, as he did for all the people who cried on him. After a little, Carol stepped back from Lincoln to look at him more clearly while still holding him tightly, with a bit of tears still falling down her face.

"I-I *sniff*... I'd thought you'd never come back!", Carol said.

Lincoln smiled with one of his eyebrows raised.

"I didn't think we were close enough for you to miss me", Lincoln smugly said.

Carol smiled at Lincoln's cockiness before giving him a friendly punch. She wiped away the rest of her tears.

"Shut up. We were close. Whenever you and I were free, you'd be there for me. We hung out so many times before you left. You were my best friend… Remember?"

Lincoln smiled warmly at Carol and held her hand with both of his.

"I'd never forget. How have you been, Carol?"

"Oh you know. Same old, same old. I'm still seen as the stereotypical rich girl, even though I'm in college now, and all those high school stuff is behind me. But who cares about how I've been! How have you been!? You've been gone for eight years!... A-Are you okay?"

Lincoln was able to see that Carol wanted to ask about his experience with boot camp. He had no idea how she had found out, but he'll ask about that later.

"I'm fine, Carol. A little bit hurt here and there, but all in all, the same Lincoln Loud you knew so many years ago."

"Hehe, is that so?", Carol snickered a little.

"Yeah, that is- SO!"

Lincoln yelped a little when Carol pinched one of his butt cheeks, making Carol laugh out loud.

"C-Carol! What the heck?"

"HAHAHAHA! S-Sorry, Lincoln. I couldn't resist. You definitely still yelp like a girl whenever you get pinched somewhere."

"Well, yeah! I told you! I really am the same guy I was eight years ago! But why did you pinch my butt!?"

Carol blushed a little and looked away from Lincoln while smiling connivingly at the same time.

"I don't know. I just felt like it, I guess."

' _It's not my fault you suddenly came back after eight long years as a hot and handsome hunk… Not to mention you became taller than me, even though I'm way older than you...'_ , she thought to herself.

Lincoln saw this as a chance to take a bit of revenge. He reached over to Carol's hips and moved his fingers rapidly, making a tickling motion on her hip. This caused Carol to react immediately by laughing and jumping away from Lincoln's hand.

"H-Hey! Not fair, Lincoln! I was thinking about stuff."

Lincoln smirked.

"I'm a simple man, Carol. You give me an opening. I take the opening."

Carol then started to reach over and try to pinch Lincoln, who reacted by keeping her at bay with his hands.

"Calm down, Carol!"

"Never!"

Lincoln couldn't help but be caught up in Carol's pace again. It was just like eight years ago when they had first met. She just had this thing about her that made it so people would do anything for her. Lincoln never felt forced though. Rather, he always had fun whenever he and Carol hung out. Right now, Carol made Lincoln feel like an eleven-year-old again, whereas Lincoln made her feel like she had an annoying little brother that she missed dearly and was playing with again.

Lincoln stopped her by hugging her close to him. He stopped what Carol was trying to do because he noticed people were starting to look at them weirdly.

"Alright, alright! You win, Carol."

Carol moved out of Lincoln's grasp and looked at him with a questioned look.

"This was a competition?", she asked.

"Apparently. I mean, we are inside a place where a competition is taking place", Lincoln laughed.

Carol laughed as well.

"Oh, you weren't even trying for a joke there, Linky!"

The two old friends laughed for a bit at their childishness.

After he stopped laughing, Lincoln looked at Carol with a questioning look.

"But, why are you here, Carol? I didn't know you were into baking."

"Oh, no. I'm totally not into cooking in general. I'm here because I wanted to watch Lori!"

"You wanted to watch Lori? Why?"

"Because friends support and cheer for each other, that's why!"

Lincoln looked stunned.

"Wait. You and Lori… are friends?"

"Yeah!"

"... Are you serious?"

"Uh, yeah, Lincoln. I am serious."

"But, I thought you and Lori were arch-enemies in high school!"

Carol scoffed and put a hand on her hip.

"That was high school, Linky. We looked past all that teenager nonsense and found a common problem that we sympathized with each other about."

"Really?"

' _I guess that's how she found out I went to boot camp. I didn't get to tell most of my friends after all…'_ , Lincoln thought to himself.

Carol fidgeted a bit and held her arm sadly, making Lincoln concentrate back on the girl in front of him.

"Yeah… that problem that she and I had in common... It was… the lost of an amazing boy in our lives. An amazing boy named… Lincoln", she said, shyly looking up at Lincoln.

Lincoln could feel tears begging his eyes to let them fall down his face. He kept his composure and held Carol's shoulder.

"Carol… I'm sorry. I didn't know my absence would affect you so much. I'm glad you became friends with Lori though. Isn't she awesome?"

Carol smiled.

"She is. A lot more awesome than I ever thought. That's why she's one of my closest friends these days. I try to keep in touch with her, but it's a bit hard since I go to a different college than her. This competition is the perfect chance to say hi to her in person again."

Suddenly, an announcement rang out through the building, making the two look up towards the sound.

" _Welcome to the Royal Woods Cake Competition! Please find your seats as fast as you can, because the contest is about to begin."_

Lincoln turned to Carol.

"Ready to go cheer Lori on?"

"You bet. We'll have to schedule a day for the two of us to talk more though, okay? Maybe even, hang out like we used to?"

"Of course, Carol! We really do need to catch up", Lincoln stated sincerely.

Carol blushed at the sincere tone of Lincoln's voice. She couldn't wait until they could hang out. She pulled out her phone.

"To make sure you actually do hang out with me, could I have your phone number?", Carol asked slyly.

Lincoln took out his phone.

"Of course!"

As they exchanged phone numbers, Carol looked at Lincoln and admired him all over. She just didn't believe it. The boy that she thought of as the cutest kid she's ever met grew up into the most handsome man she's ever seen. She was suddenly thrusted out of her thoughts when a loud thud rang throughout the hall. She looked to the source of the sound to see Lincoln's phone on the floor.

"Dang it. Dropped my phone."

Carol's eyes widened and mouth dropped when she saw Lincoln bend over right in front of her. It was not proper at all for her to stare at anything really. A lady of her status must be polite and prim. Yet all of that proper training she was given flew out the window as she looked at the most gorgeous sight she's ever seen.

Carol aimed her phone at Lincoln's behind and took as many pictures as she could. Now she had something to do while she waited for Lincoln to have free time for her. Carol couldn't help it. She and Lori had more things in common than the loss of Lincoln after all. They were both really into butts; and Lincoln's derriere, tightened against the restraints of his jeans, was perfect. Carol thought about how she would brag to Lori later about finding the perfect butt, making the situation ironic for Lori since that perfect butt happened to live under the same roof as her. It was just way too much fun to tease the two Loud siblings.

Lincoln bent back up and faced Carol. She quickly exited out of her camera app and put her phone away.

"Where are you sitting by the way, Carol?"

"Oh! I haven't chosen my seat yet."

"Would you like to sit next to me then?"

"Really? Is that okay with your sisters though? I'm sure they're fighting over who gets to sit next to you; since you've been gone for so long after all."

"It's okay. I'll make it up to them. Besides, I'm sure they'd understand. I haven't seen you in so long!"

Carol smirked and wrapped her arm around Lincoln's, making him blush and feel a little guilty. But he knew he had nothing to feel guilty about. Carol was always this touchy-touchy after all. But that's a story for another time. In short, Carol had always showed her love through physical affection. But Lincoln was sure her love towards him was more brotherly than romantically.

"Well then. I'll just take you up on that offer… Right after I buy a pack of gummy worms."

Lincoln laughed as Carol ran quickly to the vending machine to buy gummy worms. He went to the one next to her and proceeded to buy random snacks for his sisters to enjoy.

…

Lori stood upright stiffly along with the rest of the chefs as the crowd around them applauded for them. It wasn't that big of a crowd, but they did fill up all of the seats. All the seats were organized to be facing the stage from one side, as there was nothing but wall behind the stage, unless you go through the doors; then you'd find backstage. The seats were split into three large lines, with the left and right seats facing the stage diagonally and the middle seats facing the stage straight on. Because the seats are split into the left, right, and middle rows, there were two walking spaces, both in each side of the middle row and one on the left and right rows respectively.

She could see her family sitting in the front of the middle row out the corner of her eye, cheering for her. She smiled when she saw Lincoln holding a poster of her. She completely forgot the fact that Lincoln had made that for her earlier that day. She waved at him specifically, but knew that her wave could apply to her whole family. And just like she thought, her entire family erupted into an encouraging cheer after noticing her wave. Then, she noticed someone jumping up and down with her family. Someone who was very dear to her. Someone who beared a familiar resemblance to her.

"Carol!?", Lori said to herself surprised.

Carol was jumping next to Lincoln and cheering Lori on. Even though it was over the large and loud amount of people, Lori was still able to hear her family and Carol.

"Lori! You got this, girl! Show them who's the best Royal Woods baker!", Carol screamed.

Lori smiled widely and waved harder in the direction of her family and Carol, to indicate to them that she appreciated their encouragement.

She turned to her cooking station and peeked at her fellow competitors. They were all preparing to get baking. Lori pumped her fists up. She had to impress them. She had to impress the judges. But most of all… she had to impress Lincoln.

As Lori started to gather her ingredients, Ximena looked around at the audience for someone. She spotted a man at the very back of the crowd, leaning against the wall next to the exit doors. She nodded to him, to which he responded with a raise of his left hand. Ximena turned to her cooking station and started to gather her ingredients as well, but with a sneer on her face. She was definitely going to win. With the help of her companion and his companions, everything was going to go according to her plan…

...

Lori was starting to stress out. As of right now, she and the rest of the bakers were waiting for their cakes to finish baking in the ovens. Lori wondered how this was exciting to the audience, but apparently it was, as the crowd was still cheering, although not as loud as they were when the competition started. Then Lori realized that the giant television above them and the stage was probably making this whole thing exciting by playing some sort of video on it while the bakers waited for their cakes to bake. Why there was a giant television here as if it were a wrestling arena where they announced the fighters using the giant television to hype up the crowd, Lori didn't know. But it helped make the crowd go crazy, so Lori forgot about it. Right now, the one thing she needed to focus on was her cake.

She just couldn't think of anything nature-esque for her cake. No matter how hard she thought, every idea that came to mind did not seem like it fit the theme of nature at all. Originality wasn't her worry anymore. Her worry was being able to not make a fool of herself on stage. Without an idea of what she was working on, there was no point of her being on stage. She should just give up right now… She'll apologize to her family for wasting their time and hide away from the world for the rest of her life. She'd stick to being manager of the cafe and lay low, avoiding contact with anyone from the baking worl-

Lori felt her phone start to vibrate. She didn't know if she could take it out though. She was on stage after all, so it made sense to just keep phones on silence. She turned to look at the other bakers, planning to look at her phone in secret, only to see that all of them were on their phones, letting time pass by as they waited for their cakes to bake.

Lori immediately took out her phone and looked at what caused her phone to vibrate. Once again, it was a text from Lincoln. Lori held the phone tightly as she felt her heart clench at the sincerity of Lincoln's text. Even though she couldn't hear the tone of the text, she could definitely see Lincoln saying these exact words to her in person.

"Lori, I could see that you're stressed out. Everyone else is watching some sort of… uh… movie on the big screen… I think? Anyway, I was watching it too, but I felt more compelled to see how you were doing. While all the other bakers had their eyes on their phones, you were looking down to the floor of the stage, worrying about something. I could see it on your face. I don't know what it is you're worrying about, but I just want you to know… Whatever you do, Lori, I'll always be here for you to support your decision. Don't be scared to do what you love. Just do what feels natural to you. You know… you in particular, Lori, shine most beautifully when you're in the middle of doing something you love with passion and wholeheartedness", Lincoln's text read.

Lori turned her chair around to face the audience and look towards Lincoln. He was looking at the large television set, but also made small peeks at Lori every once in awhile. Lori focused her attention on Lincoln to get him to look at her directly in the eyes. Sure enough, Lincoln looked over again to Lori after feeling like he was being watched, only to make full eye contact with Lori. He blushed and waved shyly. Lori waved back at him lovingly.

Suddenly, it hit her. Lincoln. Lincoln was the source of her happiness these last few days. And he was becoming a source of inspiration and motivation for her. She turned around and faced her cooking station. She pulled out various piping bags and kitchen tools. A smile formed on her face as she started to piece out what the perfect nature-ish cake looked like in her opinion. That's what she was forgetting. What she thought the cake should look like. She shouldn't have been worrying about how the cake should look in the eyes of the judges. She should be worrying about what she thought the cake should look like. It should come to her… naturally. And the first thing that came to her mind naturally was the trip Lincoln had taken her on about a week ago.

 ***Ding!***

Lori and the bakers looked to their ovens to see that their cakes were finished. Lori now knew what to do. She and the other bakers carefully takes out their cakes and place them on their tables. All their cakes were the basic circular three cakes stacked on up on each other with the cake on top being the smallest and the cake on the bottom being the largest. Lori immediately fixed up another cake, only this time it would be just a singular cake. Lori put it in the oven and started to work on her main cake, grabbing the piping bags and tools she needed.

As soon as the bakers started to decorate their cake, the television switched off the movie and the stead showed the live recording of the cake competition. It was close up to the bakers and making dramatic camera angles to make it more exciting. People started to cheer when they saw that the cakes were being decorated and looked beautiful. The Loud family in particular were the loudest whenever the camera aimed at Lori going all out on her cake.

Ximena was in the middle of coloring her entire cake green with icing when she looked over to the other bakers. She wasn't worried about Lori, as she thought that Lori wouldn't even have a chance at winning in a contest with the best bakers that Royal Woods could get. Ximena saw that one of the bakers had a pretty good looking cake, topped with almost realistic looking vines and bushes surrounding the cake. She looked back to her cake but rose her hand as secretly as she could to make a specific hand signal. She held that signal for five seconds before returning her hand back to working on her cake.

The man, who Ximena had greeted earlier, saw the signal and walked down between the middle and right row seats. He reached the middle of the middle row and turned to a teenage boy, dressed like a punk, sitting with some friends of his, who were also dressed as punks. The man bent over and whispered into the boy's ears and walked away. The boy sneered and motioned for his friends to stand up. They stood up on command and faced the stage, annoying the people behind them. The girl of the group took out a few bags and gave everyone the contents of what was inside the bags: tomatoes.

"Hey! Cake baking sucks! Do something more exciting!", the leader of the teenagers said as he threw the tomato in his hand towards one of the bakers.

Unfortunately for the baker, the middle seats weren't too far from stage, so the tomato hit him directly in his back. This caused him to step back in surprise, leaving his cake directly open. One of the boys saw this and took the chance. He threw a tomato and it plowed right through the baker's cake, destroying the vine and bush decorations. The baker looked down sadly at his cake, embarrassed that this had happened to him.

The three judges turned around from their seats, which were in the middle of the middle row and the stage. One of the judges stood up and faced the teenagers.

"Hey! You do that stunt again, and we'll call security to throw you out!"

A certain evil-esque light flashed in the leader's eyes when he noticed the judge. The leader sneered at him.

"Go ahead and call security! We're doing this because cake competitions suck!", the leader of the group yelled.

The group of teenagers ran out of their seats and down closer to the stage. The audience gasped in horror when all of them started to throw tomatoes at the poor unsuspecting bakers in stage. Most of the bakers started to feel embarrassed and held their heads in shame. Ximena got hit by a couple of the tomatoes too, but was sneering as she hid her face from the audience. She took this chance that was given to her by the tomato throwing and confusion to work on her cake, giving her a boost ahead the other bakers. However, what she didn't anticipate was Lori's determination.

Lori would have noticed what was going on around her, had she not been so focused on decorating her cake. She was smiling throughout the making of her cake, happy that she finally had something to show the judges and the audience her passion for baking in general. When her extra cake finished baking, she put it next to her main cake and merged it together using a hot spatula to spread the blue icing from the middle cake to the extra cake, making it look like a waterfall was falling from the middle of the cake to the bottom of the extra cake on the side of the main cake. She decorated the top cake to resemble the sky, with clouds and three birds in the distance to add to the vast emptiness of the open sky. She decorated the middle cake to resemble a forest, with a bunch of pine trees covering the sides of the middle cake, while there was a lake drawn in between the trees. The lake connected the middle cake to the extra cake using the waterfall Lori had made earlier with the blue icing and hot spatula. The bottom cake was decorated to resemble life under the surface of the lake, with fish here and there and underwater pond weeds adding to the lake aspect. Finally, Lori was decorating the last part of the cake: the extra cake. She was working on making it look as if it were the bottom of the waterfall, topped with mist coming out of the water due to the rushing pressure, and rocks being around the waterfall to indicate a dangerous fall. At the moment, she was working on drawing some cattails near the waterfall.

She didn't even notice the fact that her back and part of her cooking station was covered by tomato bits and juice. Ximena glanced over to Lori. A shocked look appeared on her face as soon as her eyes set themselves on Lori's magnificent cake. Her cake looked like the work of a professional baker. The way it was decorated, and the way the cake was perfectly symmetrical. Only a hard working baker could make a cake look so perfect.

Ximena looked down to her cake and saw the complete opposite. Her cake was trying to be too abstract. There was way too much green, the drawings looked like that of an elementary schoolers, and the cake had bumps here and there. The cake clearly represented Ximena and how she was acting. She felt envious of Lori. How was it that a mere baker that she's never heard of before be better than her? She's been studying for so long too. Was it possible that this Lori girl had been studying for that long as well? Ximena grabbed her hair in frustration. She knew that she should let her pride go and give the win to Lori, who clearly deserved it more than her. But she really wanted to win...

At the same time, Lincoln was steaming in his seat. He glared at the floor, clenching his seat to keep himself from jumping off and running over to the hecklers and kicking them out himself. It helped that Carol and Lily were holding him back also. They and the rest of the Louds were rightfully angry as well. But they couldn't do anything, or else they'd get kicked out too.

"It's okay, Linky. The security guards will handle it", Carol stated, angrily looking at the people throwing tomatoes at Lori and the other bakers.

"See? There's one now, Lincoln!", Lily yelled.

Sure enough, a security guard walked down towards the rowdy teenagers. He started to scream at them.

"Hey! You kids get out of here right now or I'll kick you-"

The leader of the gang turned to the security guard and punched him hard across the face, pushing him into the seats behind him, hurting some of the people he landed on.

As soon as that happened, people started to run out of the room, screaming for help. The Louds and Carol were stuck between the many people running out the room.

"L-Lori!", the Louds and Carol screamed, trying to get her to follow them out of the building.

Mayhem ensued, and the teenagers took advantage of this. They took out blunt weapons and started heading towards the stage.

"It wouldn't be right for us to leave without causing some vandalism, right?"

Ximena's face froze in fear. She wasn't anticipating this at all. She turned to the man she signaled earlier, who had a shocked expression on his face. She glared at him, indicating to him that he should do something about them. He nodded quickly and ran up to the teenagers.

"H-Hey! This was not part of the de-"

A female teenager hit him in the stomach, causing him to hold his stomach in pain and fall to the ground.

The leader walked up to him.

"Things have changed, man. I'm not here for work anymore. I'm here for revenge."

"W-What?", the man was able to ask while wheezing in pain.

The leader pointed to one of the judges, which happened to be the one who spoke out against them.

"Him… I didn't know he was going to be here… He ruined my life", the leader said to the man.

The leader ran up to the judge's table and stopped in front of it, facing the three judges. He kicked the table away from them, leaving them shocked and stunned in their chairs. He pointed his baton at the judge in the middle.

"Remember me!?", he asked harshly.

The judge looked at the boy closer, getting all the details he could. Suddenly, it hit him.

"Y-You're that boy I expelled from school a week ago! What are you doing here!?"

The leader kicked his chair, making the judge fall to the floor.

"I was here to ruin the cake competition. But what a coincidence that you'd be here. Now I can take away what you love, just like how you took me away from my girl and expelled me!"

The leader pointed his baton to the stage.

"I'm going to take away this stage. I'm going to destroy everything and everyone on it. I'm going to make you watch me destroy your favorite stage piece by piece."

The judge stood up quickly grabbed the baton the leader was holding. Unfortunately, the leader kept his grip on it, causing a struggle between the two for ownership over the baton.

"I won't let you do that! My father and I built this stage for this town and by god, I'll protect it with my life!"

The leader sneered at the judge.

"Is that a promise!?"

The leader's gang quickly went behind the judge and restrained him, pulling him away from their leader. The leader cleaned his baton off and laughed as he watch the judge struggle helplessly against the teenagers holding him back.

"I'll come back for you. But right now… I'm going to destroy your precious stage."

The leader walked onto the stage, scaring the lights out of all the bakers, except for Lori, who was putting all of her focus on her cake. They all ran off the stage, away from the teenager boy with the weapon in his hand. Ximena was about to run off too when she realized that Lori hadn't run off yet. Ximena swallowed her pride and chose to save her fellow baker.

"L-Lori! Come on! Let's get out of here."

Lori looked to Ximena only for a second before looking back to her cake.

"I can't, Ximena! I've got to finish the cake! I finally came up with the perfect cake!"

"Okay, okay! I get it! But you can make it later, no? Let's go!"

"I-I… No! I've got to finish this cake before the idea slips out of my mi- OOOF!"

Lori was pushed to the side by the leader. The Louds and Carol, who were in the middle of calling the cops, crying, or yelling, gasped. As soon as Lori hit the floor, something broke inside of Lincoln.

"Lori!", Ximena yelled.

She ran over to Lori and held her up.

Lori quickly opened her eyes and saw that the leader aimed his baton over her cake.

"N-NO!", she yelled.

Lori moved away from Ximena and tackled the boy away from her cake. The leader rubbed his head and looked up to Lori standing in front of her cake. He glared at her.

"Move and I won't hurt you, girl."

"No! I'm not going to let you literally destroy my hard work! I'm going to win this competition. I'm going to show everyone that I can be as good as a professional baker. And I'm going to show Lincoln how much I've changed from the bossy older sister I used to be!"

The leader aimed his baton to swing at Lori's head.

"SHUT UP!"

The boy was about to swing the baton at Lori, who closed her eyes and awaited the blow to her head. Sometimes, she wished she wasn't so stubborn. But… that's just who she was.

Suddenly, she heard someone scream out.

"H-Hey! Wait!", the female voice screamed with fear.

Another voice screamed out.

"No one come after me! Stay with each other and be safe! Please!", the male voice yelled back at the female voice desperately.

The voices sounded strangely famili-

 ***BAM!***

…

…

…

…

…

After a few seconds of waiting for the blow to her head, Lori opened her eyes. She gasped and held her hands to her mouth. Someone was right in front of her, and took the blow from the baton for her. Someone who was a little taller than her and was wearing what looked like her dad's old clothes. Someone who had beautiful snow-white hair… stained by the red color slowly spreading across the bottom of their hair.

"L-L-L-Lincoln?", Lori whispered, begging to whatever was watching over them to tell her it wasn't Lincoln in front of her and that it was just some other person with white hair and her dad's clothes.

"Hey, man. Get out of the way. I already hit you. Can't you see that I'm serious?", the leader asked Lincoln, who was standing there and staring him down as if he were in a trance.

The leader sighed and placed the baton over his shoulder mockingly.

"Listen. I'll let you take your girlfriend or whatever here and get out of my way. I don't want to hurt anybody really. But I'm going to destroy this stage and everything on it. So please ask her to move."

Lincoln said nothing to the leader, but turned to Lori. Fear spread across Lori's face as she saw the blood dripping down Lincoln's face. He smiled warmly at her, which brought her to tears.

"Lori… Would you finish your cake?", he asked.

"I-I… I… If it'll get you out of being hurt, then I'll move-"

"No. That's not what I'm asking, Lori."

Lori looked at Lincoln with shock as tears still dripped from her eyes. The Louds, Carol, Ximena, and the leader and his gang looked at Lincoln with confusion.

"W-What?", Lori asked Lincoln.

Lincoln bent down to look her in the eyes. Although he was hurt, Lori saw that his face showed no signs of cringe or pain. Instead, a serious look was on his face.

"I'm asking you… Would you finish your cake?"

Lori looked at Lincoln, wondering what he meant, before it finally hit her. She knew what Lincoln was asking. She knew from his sincere and loving tone that Lincoln wasn't asking her sarcastically about whether or not she wanted to finish her cake. He was asking her for clarification. He was asking her to see if she was truly passionate about baking and decorating cakes. Lori smiled at Lincoln, who immediately got the message, and smiled back.

"Of course I would, Linky. I love baking."

Lincoln held Lori's hand tightly. He looked into her eyes with genuineness and passion. It made Lori fall in love with him all over again.

"Then that's all I need to know."

Lincoln let go of Lori and faced the leader once again, this time, with a glare in his eyes. The leader scoffed.

"So you're going to let her stay here? Don't you care about her safe-"

 ***BAM!***

Lincoln punched the leader directly in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him, causing him to kneel over and grab it in pain. It was the worst pain the leader had ever experienced in his life. Out of all the punches he had ever felt during his time being a delinquent, this punch from this random man was the absolute worst one he'd ever felt.

 ***WHAM!***

The leader was pushed back up and stumbled backwards for a bit after Lincoln used his knee to kick up at his chin. He dropped his baton on the floor out of pain. Lincoln took the moment to grab the baton and chuck it across the room, away from the hands of any of the teenagers. The leader witnessed this and charged at Lincoln with rage as his desire.

"Argh! Why, you-"

Lincoln grabbed the leader's arm and proceeded to throw him over his shoulder at the rest of the gang down off the stage.

"AHHHH!"

 ***BAM!***

The leader fell flat onto his gang, plus the judge, since they were still holding him back. Lincoln glared down at them from the stage.

"You can't win this fight, kid. I have the upper ground."

The leader glared at Lincoln and stood up. The gang members also stood up with him, but with fear on their faces instead. The judge ran out the room immediately after he was free, ticking off the leader. He turned to Lincoln angrily.

"Shut up! I'll never lose again! I won't lose again!", the leader yelled at Lincoln.

He turned to his fellow gang members, who were backing up a bit after witnessing Lincoln's strength.

"Come on, guys! We need to work together to bring this guy down!"

The teenagers looked at their leader with uncertainty, but nodded, agreeing to his commands.

The Louds and Carol ran over to Lori on the stage.

"Lori! Are you alright?!", Rita asked worried stiff.

She bent down and hugged Lori close to her.

Lori hugged her back tightly.

"I'm fine, Mom *sniff*… Sorry for making you worry…"

Rita almost cried at Lori's defeated tone. She looked at Lori and took out a tissue. She used it to wipe away the dripping mascara and tears coming from Lori's eyes.

"Don't be sorry, honey. I'm just happy you're okay."

Lori's face crunched up once she heard her mother's words. She felt the need to cry once again.

"B-But… *sniff*... Lincoln isn't! I saw- *sniff* I saw-"

Lori started to bawl loudly and tackled Rita into a hug, which Rita quickly returned. The rest of the Louds immediately jumped in the hug too, saying how worried they were about her and how happy they were to see her not hurt.

Carol would have joined in the hug too, but she was in the middle of calling the cops.

"Hello! Please, come quickly to the Royal Woods auditorium! There's a bunch of vandals attacking a friend of mine!"

Ximena ran over to the large Loud family group hug and Carol.

"Stop hugging here and get off the stage! Another fight is going to start!"

As soon as the Louds and Carol heard that they looked to Lincoln, who was surrounded by teenagers with blunt weapons.

"LINCOLN!", Lori yelled.

She was about to run over to help him when Carol and Ximena held her back, with Carol grabbing her left arm and Ximena grabbing her right.

"Let me go! Let me GO!"

"Lori! Calm down! The police are on their way!", Carol said, trying to make Lori rest easy.

Ximena's face twisted into an annoyed look as she held Lori back.

"Why does this place only have one security guard! What a horribly, unsafe place!", Ximena said to herself under her breath.

The Loud family held their breaths as they watched the gang circle around Lincoln. Lana wanted to break away from her family and go charge into battle with Lincoln, but Luna held her back. The rest of the sisters just prayed that the police would arrive soon. They wanted so bad to go and fight with him and protect him, but Lincoln told them not to go after him. They would have disobeyed him had his tone not be so pleading.

Rita and Lynn Sr. knew that right now, they had to protect the rest of their kids. In the back of their minds, they knew Lincoln would be fine. Rita and Lynn Sr. brushed their kids, including Lori and Carol off the stage quickly and to the exit. Ximena quickly followed them.

Lincoln stood his ground as the various amount of teenagers circled him. He glared at the leader, who smirked back at him.

"Alright, the gang and I are going to show you why you shouldn't mess with delinquents", he said to Lincoln.

Hearing this made Lincoln smile nostalgically a little.

"That's funny. There was a time and place where I was considered a delinquent as well", Lincoln said, scratching the back of his head.

Lincoln noticed behind the leader that his family and Carol was leaving the room. It made him sigh with relief. However, he noticed that Lori was trying hard to break free from her parent's and Carol's grasp to get to him. He saw her look directly at him, screaming his name in a desperate attempt to convince his parents to let her go and save him. He wiped the smirk off his face and looked at the leader seriously.

"I'm going to have to end this fast so my family won't worry about me anymore."

The leader scoffed and started to laugh loudly.

"HAHAHAHA! YOU?! End this fight fast?! That's absurd! There's no way you can win this! Can't you see that there's more of us than you!?"

Lincoln cracked his knuckles and held his fist in his hands.

"Can't you see that I'm tired of talking? I want to end this. Now.", Lincoln stated comically until the serious and bone-chilling shift in tone at the end of his statement.

Some of the teenagers backed up a bit after hearing Lincoln's tone at the end of his sentence. The leader felt a little bit more scared than before, but held his ground. He wasn't going to let some random adult keep him from taking revenge.

"Will someone just attack him!?"

Two teenagers on opposite directions of Lincoln looked to each other and nodded. They ran towards Lincoln at the same time, one aiming his knife at Lincoln's stomach and the other going for another hit to the head with a baseball bat.

Lincoln focused his eye on the one with the knife and quickly stepped towards him, surprising him a little. This surprise of his was the distraction Lincoln needed to grip the boy's hand holding the knife and firmly grasp it. The boy struggled to escape Lincoln's grasp as Lincoln held his hand up high, away from the boy's reach.

At the same time, Lincoln looked to the other teenager, a girl, heading towards him with the baseball bat. The girl was planning to bash down the baseball bat on Lincoln's head using a downward swing that started from the top of her head. Lincoln almost laughed.

' _These kids have no idea how to fight…'_ , Lincoln thought.

When the girl swung down at Lincoln's head, he stopped the baseball bat mid swing. The teenager was shocked to see Lincoln stop a baseball bat's downward force so easily. Lincoln pulled the baseball bat out the girl's hand and gripped the boy's hand with an intense force, almost breaking the boy's hand and causing him to holler in pain and drop the knife.

As soon as Lincoln took away their weapons, he grabbed the teenager he wasn't holding on to already and flipped them over into a fast backflip forcibly onto the floor, knocking them both unconscious.

Lincoln looked at the leader threateningly, as blood dropped down to his eyes, making him see everyone there through rose colored glasses. Only it wasn't a pair of glasses, it was blood. And it made every teenager there besides the leader see Lincoln as a monster that couldn't be defeated.

"Come on. Was that really the best you can do?", Lincoln asked mockingly.

The leader clenched his teeth and fists. His fellow gang members felt more compelled to leave right now.

"F-Fine!", the leader yelled, "We'll just attack you all at once! Guys, are you ready?!"

The teenagers looked at their leader like he was an idiot but soon felt that his plan might work, so they stood ready for his command.

Lincoln stood ready as well.

"I would have gone a bit easier on you… but I'll never forgive you for putting a finger on Lori… The fact that you pushed her down and tried to hit her in the head with a baton… That cemented your fate today", Lincoln declared.

When they charged towards Lincoln, Lincoln charged towards the leader. As he and the group fought, they didn't notice that the camera that was recording and broadcasting the cake competition live on the large television earlier was recording Lincoln's fight with the gang from the beginning of Lincoln's entrance to this very moment and continuing to record.

* * *

The Louds, Carol, and Ximena sat outside the auditorium, waiting for the police to arrive so they could direct them inside to help Lincoln out. The Louds sat quietly, not wanting to say anything to each other. They hated themselves for just waiting to see what happens… but they all understood that Lincoln had experience. It was frightening to some of them how much fighting experience Lincoln had gotten over the years.

Luna, specifically, was able to catch a glimpse of Lincoln throwing two teenagers into a backflip onto the floor. It honestly made her sick to her stomach that her precious little brother had to learn how to fight when there's no reason to fight. Luna held herself and breathed heavily. She was trying to keep her composure. With experience like that, she knew Lincoln would be fine. What stressed her out the most was that she felt something bad had happened to Lincoln at boot camp, but he wouldn't tell her. But… Luna sighed. She knew that this matter was a matter she would resolve another time. Right now, she had to console her little sisters.

Luna walked over to Lola and Lana, who were crying and hugging each other softly. They were completely worried about Lincoln, who they last saw surrounded by people that were about a year or two older than them. Luna hugged them close to her and they immediately snuggled against Luna.

Luna looked up at some of her other sisters as she hugged Lola and Lana, who were standing stiffly, waiting to see either Lincoln come out safe and victorious, or the police arrive to come in and save their brother.

Carol hugged Lori and tried to get her to calm down. Although Lori was a lot more calm than she was before, she was still sniffling like crazy. Rita rubbed Lori's back to try and help Lori calm down as well.

Ximena was just sitting awkwardly with the group, waiting for the police to arrive as well.

"X-Ximena! Where are you!?", a male voice yelled.

Ximena perked up and looked around to find the man that was calling her. She spotted him walking around the front and screaming her name.

"Matias! I'm over here!", she screamed back at him.

The man, Matias, noticed Ximena's voice and ran to her straight away. Once he reached her, he hugged her and she hugged back.

"I was so worried, Ximena, dear!"

"I was worried about you too, honey… But what happened? I thought you had everything under control, Matias?"

Matias looked away from Ximena sadly.

"I'm sorry, dear. I paid them to just be hecklers for the cake competition, but they went farther than I expected."

"Wait. It was you? You caused the cake competition to go in that direction!?", Lori asked harshly.

Ximena and Matias looked to see Lori glaring at them, and Carol and the Louds looking at her with shocked expressions. Ximena felt incredibly guilty. She knew this whole situation was her fault, and now she knew that she had to own up to it. She couldn't blame Matias. She had him do something beyond his comfort zone.

"L-Lori… Don't blame Matias. He only did it because I told him to."

Lori focused her scowl on Ximena now, sending chills down Ximena's spine.

"Why!? Why did you do it then, Ximena!?"

"I… I… I was consumed by my greed. I wanted so badly to win this competition that I would do anything to win. So I resorted to cheating… but I never expected this to happen! I didn't want this to happen!"

"My little brother is in there fighting, Ximena! My little brother could be dying right now because of what you did! Do you know how it feels to watch someone you love be taken away from you!? Do you know how it feels to not be able to help them out of their predicament!? DO YOU?!"

Lynn Sr. understood that Lori's sharp and pain-filled questions were also directed towards him, even if she was taking it out on someone else at the moment. He held onto Rita for comfort, who gladly gave it to him by hugging one of his arms.

Ximena shrank under Lori's presence. She felt heavily guilty for all of what occurred in the cake competition.

"I-I don't, Lori. All I can say is… Sorry. I'm sorry for ruining the cake competition that you probably could have won. I'm sorry for treating you like you were under me. But most of all… I'm sorry for making your little brother fight for our safety."

Lori wanted to yell at Ximena some more, but the sounds of sirens alerted all the people there to look towards the direction of the sound.

They saw the blue and red lights flashing in a sequence come closer I where they were. When they stopped moving, everyone ran over to the vehicle.

A female police officer and her male partner came out of the car and were surprised by the amount of people already in front of them.

"Mister! Miss! Please! You gotta save my big brother!", Lily yelled.

"Please, hurry! He's in there right now fighting back the vandals and keeping them from coming after us!", Luan yelled as well.

The officers were overwhelmed by the Loud and Carol begging them to go in and save Lincoln.

"Alright! Alright! Calm down!", the female officer said to quiet down the group, "Show us the way. But one of you onl-"

The Louds and Carol immediately ran into the auditorium, making the officer face palm.

"Whatever. Let's go, partner."

"Yes, ma'am!"

The police officers ran in after them, and Ximena and Matias followed suit.

* * *

Lori was the first to burst through the doors of the auditorium room where the cake competition took place. She froze out of fear when she saw that the love of her life was just standing on stage, motionlessly and staring into nothing. She ran towards Lincoln. When the rest of the Louds and Carol arrived, they were shocked to see Lincoln in a trance-like state as well.

When Lori went onto the stage, she found herself looking at the barely beaten up teenagers all unconscious. Lori smiled, knowing that Lincoln probably took care not to seriously injure the teenagers, as mad at them as he was. Lori hurried over to Lincoln and examined him and saw how hurt he actually was from up close. She cringed and looked away from Lincoln to keep herself from crying out in despair. But she looked at her love anyway, to look over the damage Lincoln was afflicted with.

His clothes had some torn up spots, and in those spots, Lori could see faint traces of blood and cuts, indicating that the teenagers were able to wound Lincoln a little, but not deep enough to injure him. Lori could see small bruises start to form on his knuckles and face. Oh god. His face. Blood covered the top of his forehead to the bottom of his face. Although it wasn't a large enough amount to cover his entire face, there was enough to cover his eyes, nose, and chin. Some blood dripped down from his chin and to the floor. It was definitely because of the blow he took for Lori earlier that day. And yet… Lincoln didn't even look like he was in physical pain. His despondent eyes told Lori that something was going through his mind. Something that must be from his traumatizing days at boot camp.

Lori held back her tears and became the older sister she had to be for this situation.

"L-L-Lincoln… Can you hear me?"

Silence.

The rest of the Louds and Carol reach the stage and were horrified at Lincoln's condition. They couldn't even verbally express it, as they stared at him with their mouths agape with fright.

Lori held Lincoln's arm softly, trying not to hurt him.

"L-Lincoln… It's me. Lori! Your big sister..."

Lori saw Lincoln twitch a little. She hoped that this meant he was coming back to his senses. She just needed to try a little harder.

"You did it, Linky. You saved our family. You saved the people here. You saved… me. You didn't even really injure these dumb teenagers. You're a hero, Linky."

Lincoln finally broke out of his thousand yard stare and life entered his eyes again. He turned to Lori in awe.

"I-I'm a hero?"

Lori smiled widely at Lincoln, while at the same time, keeping herself from crying for the hundredth time that day.

"Yes! Of course you are!"

"Are you kidding me? You're *sniff* nothing but a hero, Lincoln!", Lana yelled.

Lincoln and Lori looked towards Lana to see her and the rest of the Louds and Carol about to break their composure.

"You idiot! You could have been *sniff* killed!", Lola yelled at Lincoln.

"What's your deal, lil bro!? Always making us *sniff* worry about you!", Luna added.

"Do you think we could *sniff* handle losing you again!?", Lynn shouted.

"This *sniff* was never funny, Lincoln! It wasn't funny the first time we lost you, and it will never, ever be funny!", Luan cried out.

"Being a hero *sniff* doesn't mean you have to risk your life like that, Lincoln!", Lily screamed.

"How dare you try to leave us again, Lincoln. Even I *sniff * don't like this suffering pain you leave us in", Lucy added.

"Why must you agonize *sniff* your own kin this way so frequently!? Don't you comprehend the fact that you are of great importance to us!?", Lisa shouted.

"L-LINKY! WHY ARE YOU SO HURT!?", Leni wailed.

Leni charged into Lincoln and tightly hugged him, ignoring the small amount of blood dripping onto her hair. She couldn't care less about her hair at this moment. All she could think about was the pain that Lincoln had taken to protect her and the rest of their family.

"LINKY! STOP BEING HURT! PLEASE! YOU'RE NOT AT THAT HORRIBLE SHOE STORE ANYMORE!", Leni wailed into Lincoln's chest, not caring if she was right about Lincoln being at a stressful boot camp or a tacky shoe store.

Lincoln shouldn't have been taken back by Leni charging into him with worry, and yet he was. She always caught him off guard. The rest of the Loud sisters lost control of their composure and charged into Lincoln as well, initiating another group hug. Only this time, the sisters were crying terribly hard, and tried to strangle Lincoln with their hugs. Fortunately for Lincoln, he was able to withstand their force. He hugged them back lovingly and softly apologized for worrying them with a whisper to each of their ears. Lori wiped her eyes and joined into the hug as well.

Carol had her arms crossed and a worried look on her face as she watched Lincoln be smothered by his sisters. She was incredibly worried about him as well, and wanted to join in the hug too. But she let this hug be a family hug. Next time though, she was going to hug the heck out of him.

"So… Where are the vandals?"

Carol turned around to see the police officers looking around the auditorium, and Ximena and Matias right behind them.

"Right there on the stage, unconscious, ma'am and sir", Carol stated.

The police officers went to the stage and examined the teenagers. The female officer nodded.

"Yep. These are the vandals alright. I'd recognize these kids anywhere. The leader in particular has been wanted for quite some time."

The female officer faced Lincoln, who looked back to her with concern.

"Thank you, Mister…?"

"Lincoln, ma'am", he answered.

The female officer smiled.

"Thank you, Mister Lincoln. We'll be taking over now. Rest easy."

She turned to her partner.

"Go call for some extra cruisers. We've got some trouble-makers to bring in for some questioning."

As the male police officer left the room, Ximena and Matias approached the female officer.

"Um… We have something we want to admit to later", Ximena stated.

The female officer looked at her questioningly but blew it off.

"Alright. Thank you for making it later, though. I have to cuff these teens to keep them from doing any more damage when they wake up."

Ximena and Matias nodded.

Lori couldn't help but smile at Ximena and Matias's move. They were willing to confess to the police that they did something wrong. It was very brave of them.

Rita and Lynn Sr. approached the group hug. They both had heartwarming smiles on their faces as they watched their kids hug Lincoln as if he were a giant teddy bear. Those heartwarming smiles turned into horrified looks once they realized that they had forgotten something about Lincoln's condition.

"Lincoln, son. As much as I would hate to break this up, I think that you need to go to the hospital right now", Lynn Sr. stated.

Lincoln totally forgot that he had some injuries on his body, It wasn't anything that was life-threatening though, right? Well, except for the small gash on his head-

"OH MY GOD. DAD IS RIGHT! LINCOLN NEEDS TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL!", Lola screamed as she stared up at Lincoln's face.

The other Loud sisters froze in place for a bit and looked up to Lincoln. They realized that Lincoln's face was covered with blood. They had no idea why he did. Only Lori did. But even if she did already know, it still shocked her because of how Lincoln didn't even complain about the small but still scary amount of blood coming out of his head. This realization of Lincoln bleeding to the rest of the sisters freaked them out immensely.

The Loud sisters lifted up Lincoln and dashed towards the exit, much to his disdain. Lynn Sr. followed suit, yelling at the girls to be careful with Lincoln. Rita ran after them, dialing the number for the ambulance to come pick Lincoln up. Carol ran after too, not wanting to be left alone in the auditorium and wanting to see Lincoln be treated.

As they carried him outside, Lincoln sighed, but smiled. He felt at peace once again. It was really refreshing to have somebody worry about him after a hard fight, even though today's fight wasn't that hard a fight to be honest. Nonetheless, he was grateful that his sisters, friend, and parents loved him so much.

He loved his family and friends so much.

Lincoln started to let himself fall into slumber as his sisters held him carefully, awaiting the ambulance to come pick him up.

Then…

...

...

...

...

A beautiful and calm silence.

Once they were outside, his sisters noticed that Lincoln was now asleep and breathing lightly. They huddled carefully into another group hug, snuggling Lincoln against every sister in the hug.

Lori reached for one of Lincoln's hands and brought it to her face. She kissed his bruised knuckles softly.

"Sleep well… my hero", Lori whispered under her breath, making sure none of her sisters heard her.

' _I really, really love you, Linky. I love you so much…", Lori thought as she kissed Lincoln's knuckles, soothing him and even herself._

…

The first forbidden flower has fully grown.

* * *

 **I think this chapter is the second longest chapter I've done so far. More than twelve thousand words. The first chapter is still longer though. XD**

 **You know what's funny? This chapter was supposed to be the finale of Lori's arc. It was going to be this chapter and then afterwards they would be at home and yada yada.**

 **But this chapter became longer than I expected so I moved the finale over to one more chapter. I really think that next chapter will be the finale of Lori's Arc.**

 **But we'll just have to see, won't we?**

 **This chapter is more action-y.**

 **But next chapter will more lovey-dovey. Maybe.**

 **Also, you know what I think would be cool? If people did fan-art of my FanFic! I'm not asking anyone in particular to do it, but if you have done or will make fan-art of my story, please send me a link over private messaging on FanFiction or Tumblr. I absolutely loved fan-art of Requiem for a Loud, so seeing fan-art of my FanFiction will probably make me cry of happiness.**

 **Also, also. Would you guys want to see Giggles and Polly in Lincoln's harem? I'm kind of in between on letting them in. I don't know. Please comment on this in the reviews!**

 **But anyway, thank you all for continuing to support my FanFiction story!**

 **-Devumaru**


	7. Lori's Arc Finale

_**-Fall of the First Forbidden Flower: Finale-**_

" _And the winner is…John Bakersfield!"_

 _Cheers rang out and applause started as soon as it was announced that someone named John had won the cake competition. He happily took the trophy and hugged the judge as gratitude for the win. He waved to the audience for a bit before waving back to the camera in front of him._

Lincoln was sprawled out across the couch, watching the recording of the cake competition from his old television in the Loud House living room. He was wearing a pair of Lori's old light blue and long sleeved pajamas, patterned with the cute faces of otters, that she's kept since she was nineteen years old, just in case someone needed it. And in this case, Lincoln needed it, as his dad's old clothes got all torn up during his brawl at the auditorium. He felt bad that he couldn't come to the do-over of the cake competition, with more security and less hecklers, but Lori had told him a million times that it was alright. He was stuck in the hospital for a couple of days after all.

Lincoln was starting to doze off a bit. He watched this one recording a bunch of times just this morning. He was extremely proud of his older sister and her cake she worked so hard on. It looked magnificent, even though it didn't win. But it did appear in the recording a bunch, so Lincoln looked forward to those parts. As Lincoln started to close his eyes, he felt someone take the remote out of his hand, which immediately made him react by opening his eyes to see who took the remote.

Lori smirked as she dangled the remote in her hand.

"How are you feeling, twerp?"

Lincoln smiled and scooted over for Lori to sit next to him.

"Better. I never really felt bad since that day, but I guess I do feel a bit better."

"Good. If you didn't feel any better, you would have never left the hospital."

"Yeah, that's true. Sorry you didn't win, Lori. I should have been there for you", Lincoln said with a melancholic tone.

Lori smiled warmly at Lincoln and rested her head on Lincoln's chest, laying the rest of her body on the couch. She placed her hands on one of Lincoln's thighs and rubbed it gently, calming him down if he needed it.

"Lincoln, I knew from the minute I joined the competition I would lose. It's literally me versus a bunch of professionals after all."

"But, Lori! You... *sigh* I guess you're right, Lori."

Lori smirked, grabbed one of Lincoln's hands, and kissed it softly over and over.

"Yeah, I am. Besides, I got more people to come by the cafe ever since the competition. They really liked the way my cake looked."

"Well that's good. The world needs your cakes, Lori", Lincoln said with a smile.

Lori sat up away from Lincoln and ruffled his hair, making him chuckle a bit. After Lori stopped ruffling his hair, she looked at Lincoln with a serious look.

"Lincoln… I want you to promise me something."

Lincoln looked at Lori questioningly.

"What, Lori? You know you don't need me to promise anything, right? I'd do anything for you."

Lori kissed Lincoln's forehead.

"I know, I know. But this time… I need you to keep your word."

Lincoln nodded, understanding that Lori was about to ask him something that was really important to her.

"I want you to promise me… that you won't ever fight again."

Lincoln looked at Lori with a shocked expression. He immediately understood what she meant when she mentioned him and fighting.

"But, Lori! You know I don't fight for fun! I fought that last time to protect everyone! I-"

"The police could have done that, Lincoln. You don't need to put yourself at risk like that."

"But what if something happened to you! You know, you almost got hit in the head?"

Lori held Lincoln's hand to reassure him. She kissed his cheek.

"I know, and I'm literally more than thankful to you, Linky. But… please…"

Lori held Lincoln's hand tighter and looked directly into his eyes. Lincoln felt a little taken back.

"Please… promise me you won't fight anymore. We don't need to fight here in Royal Woods. I don't want my little brother to get hurt ever again. And I don't want my boyfriend to feel like he needed to be my hero. I just… I just want you to be safe, okay?"

Lincoln had an internal struggle in his head. For the longest time, in the back of his mind, he'd always thought that he needed to fight to survive. All those years in boot camp taught him that it was survival of the fittest, and yet at the same time, he was also taught about mercy and compassion for his enemies too by someone he could have called Mom… Even though mercy and compassion was unorthodox there.

But… Lori was right. He wasn't in boot camp anymore. He was home in Royal Woods. It wasn't a war field anymore. It was a suburban neighborhood. Right now, he didn't want the fighting and violence. Right now… he wanted the love his family and his girlfriend would give him.

Lincoln looked at Lori with his loving and sincere eyes.

"You're right. I don't need to fight anymore. I'll still protect everyone… just by some other way. I promise you, Lori."

"Well… I would say we don't need protection… but the auditorium did get attacked… Alright, you can protect us. But you have to protect yourself too! And try not to start any fights, okay?"

Lincoln smiled.

"Okay! But if it makes you feel any better, Lori, those teens were chumps. I mean… who calls themselves a delinquent? You could obviously tell that he was trying way too hard to be cool."

Lori chuckled a bit at that.

"If they were chumps, how'd you get hurt so bad when we found you, huh? I thought we'd come in and see you on top of all of them piled up, like a winner claiming his mountain of losers. Or something like that."

Lincoln definitely laughed at that. Then he looked down to his feet and kicked a little.

"I don't know. I barely felt a thing. But fighting a group like that… it reminded me of the time in boot camp I had to… Well, that's a story for another day. I got hurt trying to keep myself from injuring them or something, you know?"

Lori kissed Lincoln's cheek and laid against his chest once again.

"Yeah… I know, Linky. Right now… let's just, rest, okay?"

Lincoln smiled and roped his arm around Lori's shoulders.

"Alright. I bet you're glad no one's home today."

Lori looked up to Lincoln and sneered. She poked his nose.

"You bet your delicious ass, I am."

Lincoln tried really hard to contain his laughter. Lori smiled and went back to laying against his chest.

It was fortunate for the two of them that the rest of the Loud family had decided to go out and get something nice for Lori and Lincoln. They probably would stay at the mall all day, since Leni and Lola came with them and the two of them love to take as long as they could in the clothing stores. It was already shocking enough that Leni had started to feel comfortable enough to start leaving the house by her own will, since she had to be coerced by Lincoln to go see Lori's cake competition live. But when Lori said that she didn't feel like going to the mall, everyone thought she had lost her mind. But after some consideration from Rita and Lynn Sr., they decided that they would just pick up something nice for her and Lincoln, as a reward for her being second place in the competition and him for saving the competition.

Another reason why it was fortunate for the two of them that day was because Lori didn't have to go into work that night. This meant that she and Lincoln had the house to themselves the entire day… And she had some plans for her brother/boyfriend.

Lori and Lincoln continued to watch the recording of the cake competition. They watched the part where the camera turned to the audience and eventually saw Ximena and Matias from the audience cheering. Lori smiled at this. Ximena had quit the competition and wanted to go and find herself. She spent so many years studying the art of baking that she forgot to be courteous and righteous. She immediately took the blame for the attack on the auditorium. But the police let it slide since she learned her lesson or something like that. Lori exchanged phone numbers with her before they parted ways. She couldn't believe that she had a rival in baking now. It made her laugh.

Lori decided to use the remote to change the channel away from the recording. Lincoln didn't mind. He was getting bored of watching the competition over and over anyway. Besides, Lori was here with him now, so he decided he would spoil her. The channel she had changed to was a news channel and, to their surprise, they were about to talk about what occurred at the Royal Woods Auditorium on the day of the original cake competition.

"Hello, Royal Woods! I'm here with a special news report! A few days ago, at the Royal Woods Auditorium, a group of teenage vandals tried to ruin the Royal Woods Cake Competition. It took us a while to be able to secure the footage of what happened, but recently we were able to obtain it and review it. The attack on the Royal Woods Auditorium seemed to be under the pretense of revenge, as the camera used for live broadcasting the event on the large television in the auditorium and recording the event was also able to record the conversation between the leader of the delinquents and one of the judges."

The news then switched over to the recording of the leader arguing with the judge. After a bit, it switched back to the news reporter.

"The leader of these delinquents attempted at first to just harass the competition, but once he made contact with the judge, it became personal for him. However, it also became personal for a, Lincoln Loud as well, when the leader attacked his dear older sister."

* * *

**A few moments earlier**

A gothic dressed woman was writing in a dark room under the light of a desk lamp. She was tall and slender, already a sign of beauty. However, her skin seemed to be as pale as a ghost, scaring off most of the men who would dare come near her. Dark hair flowed beautifully from the top of her head to the middle of her back. Her hazel eyes looked as if it would pierce the soul of anyone who looked directly into them.

The only other light source besides the lamp's was the light escaping the sides of the binds in front of the window next to her desk. The small amount of light set itself on the bed behind her desk. She crumpled up the piece of paper she was writing on with exasperation and threw it across the room.

"Why must the evils of the world evade my poetry creativity so?!", she growled in frustration.

The woman moved away from her desk and jumped on her bed. She buried her head in her pillows.

A quick look at her room and you could see that it was just as gothic and dark as Lucy's side of her room. You would think that a nineteen-year old woman like her would give up on this eerie sort of lifestyle after graduating, but she couldn't help but stay affiliated with the dark arts. If anything, her infatuation with the grim and unappealing only increased, since the real world was just as grim and unappealing as the darkness that lived inside of her.

It also helped that she became a pretty popular morbid poet after she graduated from high school. Right now she was having trouble coming up with anything for her haiku on her popular blog online. The cries of the damned from the commenters on her blog encouraged her enough to continue posting her poems to the internet, but it wasn't enough to help her come up with anything new.

The woman sat up and sighed. She reached over for a remote and pointed it at the drab and dead-looking television in front of her bed.

"Maybe some depressing news will give birth to some grim ideas for me", she said to herself.

She turned on the television and flipped over to the news channel.

She watched the news reporter talk about the attack on the Royal Woods Auditorium, which made her very gleeful, in the most mirthless way possible. Maybe this attack could give her some ideas.

Granted, she hated the fact that this had happened in the very area she lived in. It made her sick to her stomach. But that sickness is just what she needed to inspire her next idea for her haiku.

"... However, it also became personal for a, Lincoln Loud, as well when the leader attacked his dear older sister...", the news reporter announced, catching the gothic woman's ears.

She stared at her television with surprise, as they played a recording of Lincoln standing his ground in the middle of these punk teenagers surrounding him.

" _I would have gone a bit easier on you… but I'll never forgive you for putting a finger on Lori… The fact that you pushed her down and tried to hit her in the head with a baton… That cemented your fate today",_ Lincoln declared in the recording.

The woman felt her heart clench. She looked down to her chest confused. It usually only clenched when something actually happy happened to her. So it freaked her out a little. She looked back at the screen and watched as Lincoln fought the teens skillfully. It was if she were watching Death itself take the lives of the people who done him wrong. It was… glorious.

Her eyes widened as she finally realized who that man was. Even though the news reporter had announced his name already, it was just so... unbelievable.

"L-L-Lincoln?"

* * *

**A few moments earlier as well**

A woman was sitting against her bedpost. She was laying on her bed, lazily strumming her electric guitar unplugged from the amp. A melancholic look was on her face as she thought about something.

Her hair wasn't as long as most other girls, but the front of her hair was long enough to be spiked up with gel. A purple streak on a specific part of her hair followed the upwards motion. She was tall, although not as tall as the gothic girl, but just as slender. She wore something akin to what Luna would have worn back in her teenage years, even though this woman wasn't a teenager anymore. Rather, she seemed to be a young adult, probably the same age as Lincoln.

Her eyes were a beautiful violet, a strange color for the eyes of anyone really. She's been told before that they look blue under a certain light, but out of the light they look violet; Just like how people who have brown eyes look as though they have black eyes, but under the light, it's cleary brown. She liked the idea of having violet eyes though, so she just said her eyes were violet. Plus, it matched the purple streak in her hair. It was cute to her.

She continued to strum lazily on her guitar before tossing it lightly to the other side of the bed. She reached over for her phone, unlocked it from the lock screen, and opened the text messaging app. She opened a text under the name of "My Luv".

It read: "I'm sorry. But I can't do this anymore. I'm breaking up with you. I just don't love you anymore."

The woman closed the app and sniffled a little. She would have cried a lot more, but, according to the text, she received that text about a week ago. She's already had her fill of teary eyes and lost hope. Now she just felt… tired and empty. Why she kept the text in her phone instead of deleting it was a mystery to her. She wanted to… but she just couldn't. It was as if something was holding her back.

She put her phone away and stared longingly at nothing. In a technical stance though, she was staring at the various rock posters on her wall. Her room seemed to be akin to Luna's room, in the sense that it was purple and had music-related stuff hanging off of the wall, or laying against it. For example, an acoustic guitar could be seen laying against the wall in the corner of the room.

Finally, the woman got off her bed and headed towards her laptop, which was on top of a somewhat messy desk. She opened up her laptop and and went for the internet to escape the pains of reality once again. When she opened up her internet browser, she landed on her home page, which just so happened to be a news page. She saw out the corner of her eye something that had to do with Royal Woods. And it was going live. She felt compelled to see what was going on. She clicked on the link and waited for the live broadcast to load onto her laptop.

She watched as the news reporter announced the attack on the Royal Woods Auditorium. She thought about how stupid it was for a bunch of teenagers to do something like that. But to each their own, she assumed. She put her hand to her cheek and rested her arm on the desk, letting her head lazily rest on her hand as she watched the news reporter continue to talk about the attack.

"... However, it also became personal for a, Lincoln Loud, as well when the leader attacked his dear older sister...", the news reporter announced.

The woman almost fell out of her chair, as the familiar name metaphorically punched her across the face. She stared wide-eyed at her computer, hoping that they said that name again for clarification, or at least show footage of him. Sure enough, the footage of Lincoln appeared on screen.

He said a certain speech that made her feel weak. It was charming and at the same time, endearing to her. But what caught her attention the most was how much he changed. He looked like such a man; unlike the boy she knew so long ago. He had gotten taller and looked more well-built, yet at the same time, he still had this scrawny look to him. Just like his younger self. His hair was exactly the same as well. A beautiful white and a weird, funny tuft of hair sticking out of the top of his head. This biggest difference was the way he fought. The woman never would have thought that that boy she knew so long ago could grow up into… a fighter of sorts.

A smile grew on the woman's face for the first time in awhile.

"I can't believe it! L-Lincoln's back!"

* * *

**A few moments after the previous girls**

"Meow~"

A cat sprawled out on a window sill inside of a room, stretching itself out by sliding its front paws away from it's body and arching its back upwards.

"Maru! Where are you?", a woman yelled from behind a door.

She opened the door and entered the room. Her short brown hair that only reached to the tips of her shoulders flowed beautifully with her movements. Her skin looked as though she took great care not to make them too light or dark. Her dark brown eyes looked mature and filled to the brim with kindness and innocence. She wore casual attire, indicating that she was probably at home. Her casual attire consisted of a somewhat frilly sundress that reached the bottom of her knees, and a large sun hat.

She turned to the window and saw her cat resting on the space next to the window.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"

The cat looked at her unamused, but she smiled and picked it up. She brought the cat into a hug.

"You forgot your glasses!"

"Meow!"

The woman pulled out some special-made glasses from her pocket and put it on the cat. The cat looked much more comfortable.

"Meow~"

The cat rubbed its head against the woman in a display of affection. The woman smiled and stroked the cat from head to tail.

"You're welcome, Maru. Come on, it's time for breakfast."

She walked out of the room and into the kitchen. A quick look of her home shows that she lived in a very wealthy home. It looked very clean and very shiny. The wooden flooring looked as if it were brand new. The walls were a white concrete. And the furniture resembled that of a beach hut. Which made sense, since the house had the view of the ocean from the window the cat was sitting next to.

The woman placed the cat on a chair at the dinner table. It seemed that she lived alone, as the only people at the dinner table were her and the cat.

"Meow!"

"I know, Maru! You want your Kitty Bitz's. Well, if you could stay patient for a little, I'll also throw in some of those treats you like, okay?"

The cat yawned and rested its head on the soft fabric of the chair. The woman smiled and began to pour some cat food.

 ***RING! RING! RING!***

The woman put down the cat food and washed her hands quickly. As soon as she dried her hands with a nearby towel, she pulled out her phone and answered it.

"Hello?... Madison? Hey! How are you? Why'd you call me?"

The cat perked its ears and sat up, as if it were trying to listen in on the woman's conversation.

"You want me to hang up, go to the internet browser on my phone and search up Royal Woods news? Why Royal Woods?... A surprise? Well, alright. That's Royal Woods, Michigan, right? Okay. Catch ya' later, sis."

The woman hung up and searched up Royal Woods news on her phone's internet browser. She noticed that it was live right now. She tapped on it. She watched the news reporter report on the events of what occurred at the Royal Woods Auditorium.

"I can't believe that one man single-handedly saved the Royal Woods Auditorium and fought an entire gang. If it weren't for him, the auditorium would have been needlessly destroyed. To our small city, Lincoln Loud is a hero."

 ***THUD!***

The cat arched up its back at the sudden sound caused by the woman dropping her phone.

The woman held her hands to her mouth, trying immensely hard not to cry. There was no way she found him. It's been eight years. She thought that she would never see him again.

The woman bent down and picked up her phone. She didn't care for what the reporter had to say at this point. She wanted to see them mention Lincoln again. She wanted to see if it were really him. The woman used her finger to scroll back the video. However, she went a little too far back from when the reporter said Lincoln's name. But, unbeknownst to her, she landed exactly where she wanted. She couldn't hold back her tears when she saw the adult version of that boy who saved her life so long ago. She recognized him immediately, due to his loving-looking face, heartwarming yet determined eyes, and his incredibly noticeable snow-white hair.

The woman couldn't even focus on Lincoln's speech. She broke down and hugged her phone tightly to her chest.

"I-I *sniff* found him! I-I *sniff* found him! I found him! *sniff*", she yelled over and over.

The cat walked up to her side, looking at her as if it were confused.

The woman looked over to her cat.

"Maru! I found him! *sniff* I found Lincoln!"

The cat stared at her expressionlessly, but slowly blinked at her with its tail up. Its whiskers relaxed forward, and its fur was laid back.

"Meow~"

The woman smiled, even with tears falling down her face like water from a waterfall. She knew her cat was only happy because it could tell that she was happy.

"Oh my god! I got so much to do *sniff* now! I got to cancel all my appointments! I have to call into work and ask for that vacation now! I have to go see Lincoln!"

The woman stood up and immediately ran to another room. The cat walked after her calmly, curious as to what its owner was being frantic about.

* * *

Lincoln stared at the television screen in awe. He never thought that he would be called a hero on the news before. It was kind of cool to him. But it was a little embarrassing. Lincoln started to sweat a little. It wasn't as if the gang of teenagers were that strong or anything. They were just… teenagers!

"Phew! Is it hot in here, or what?"

Lori looked at Lincoln questioningly.

"It's not that hot, Lincoln. Are you okay?"

Lincoln laughed a little.

"I think it's because of that news report. Calling me a hero and everything. I don't think I did that much...", Lincoln said as he chuckled.

Lori smiled at this and held Lincoln's hand.

"Are you kidding me, Lincoln? You literally saved the auditorium and everyone else. Although I don't want you to fight anymore, I have to admit, the police wouldn't have got there in time to keep the auditorium safe. So in my eyes… In everyone's eyes… You are a hero, Lincoln."

Lincoln blushed at this and looked away from Lori shyly.

"Aw, Lori~ You're making me blush."

Lori blushed when she saw Lincoln blush and look away, as if he were a shy kid. It made her want to take him to his room and ravish him. Sure, it might have been a tight fit, but she didn't want Leni to be able to find out about their… playtime. Plus, she felt like she could probably move the furniture in Lincoln's room out into the hallway.

Today was the perfect day. She had Lincoln all to herself now. No family. No work. Just her and Lincoln, alone at home. Today is the perfect day for Lori to push their love even further. It was the best and rarest opportunity she could ever get.

Lincoln was thinking about how nice Lori was and how lucky he was, when all of the sudden, he started to feel a bunch of wet tingling feelings on his neck, making him moan out loud a little. He turned to his side to see Lori looking at him with a certain seductive look.

"Wow… Look at you, twerp. You're a hero now, huh? How does that make you feel~?", Lori said as she kissed and sucked on Lincoln's neck.

Lincoln gulped. Lori was really close to him. In fact, she was basically sitting on him.

"U-U-Uh, I-I guess it's kind of nice… Are y-you feeling alright, Lori? Y-You have this weird look in your-"

Lori placed her finger on Lincoln's lips.

"I'm perfectly fine. I've literally never been happier. Now… could you be a dear and…"

Lori placed her hand right over Lincoln's delicates and gently rubbed the surface of it over his pants. Lincoln immediately sat up and stiffened his back up.

Lori looked into Lincoln's nervous yet excited eyes.

"Go out to the convenience store and buy some… protection… as fast as you can?", Lori finished asking.

Lincoln gulped. Sweat was falling down his face even more than it was before.

"S-Sure, Lori! I'll be right back!"

Lincoln kissed Lori on the cheek, placed her gently down on the couch, and ran out the door. Lori smirked and walked up the stairs, getting ready to prepare herself for Lincoln's return.

* * *

Sitting on the parking curb outside the front of a convenience store was the leader of the delinquents himself. He sighed as he watched the various number of cars speed past him on the street. He was nowhere near them, so he took this chance to just stare off into the distance.

His parents had to bail him out of the police station's cell. It was one of those times he was grateful of being a rich kid. But other than that… he hated being one. Parents who don't care about you because they think money buys happiness. Higher expectations put on you to be able to succeed in life. Not to mention the fact that people despise the rich, so people looked at him weird, especially in high school. But it doesn't matter anymore… He was expelled. He was free from that hellhole of a place… but he wasn't free from the disappointment in his parents' eyes, or the look on strangers' faces when they past by him on the streets, or the fact that his future was pretty much going to be filled with stress and hardship from now on.

The leader sighed. He ruffled up his slick black hair to make it look more messy. His parents had forced him earlier to clean up and look more professional. But he couldn't stand them pestering him and just ran out of their house. It's not like they care, right? Who cared if he just up and disappeared?

The leader took off his sunglasses to reveal angry yet teary brown eyes. He caused so much trouble a few days ago that he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and regret. He felt horrible that he got his friends involved in this whole stupid thing. He was so happy to see that all the blame was to put on him and none on them... But how was he going to approach them after all of this!? Would they even look at him…

He took out a pack of cigarettes and was about to light one of the cigarettes up when he heard the sounds of rushing footsteps coming towards him. It immediately made him turn to the source of the sound and get ready for a fight. He placed his hand on the floor and got ready to jump up and attack if he needed to.

However, nothing but a gust of wind past him. He was able to see someone, but not clearly enough. They ran into the convenience store behind him. He knew this because the familiar ding of the convenience store sounded, indicating someone had entered. Or left. Who knows. The leader sighed and relaxed himself. He was about to light his cigarette when he noticed that it was gone. It was probably blown away from that weird burst of wind that random guy brought. He put away his box of cigarettes, no longer feeling the urge to smoke a quick one, and stared off into the distance.

 ***DING!***

Someone exited the convenience store. The leader didn't even look behind him. He was tired of being on edge all the time. It probably was some stranger he's never met before. The person was about to walk past him when they suddenly stopped next to the leader. The leader looked up to see who it was. To his surprise, it was the man who stopped his rampage a few days ago. Wearing a bike helmet and pajamas with otters all over it.

"You?!", they both yelled at the same time when they looked at each other.

The leader wanted to start another fight with Lincoln, but remembered how utterly destroyed he was the last time they fought. He looked away from Lincoln and tried to ignore him. Unfortunately for him, Lincoln sat down next to him.

"What do you want, man? Haven't you humiliated me enough?"

"You know… your vocabulary is pretty large for a delinquent."

The leader scoffed and looked at Lincoln directly.

"Your point?"

Lincoln looked back at the teenager.

"What's your name?"

"Excuse me?"

"What's your name, kid? Unless you want me to call you kid instead?"

The leader looked away for a second before looking back at Lincoln, making his decision.

"My name's… Nathan."

"Nice to meet you, Nathan. I'm Lincoln!", Lincoln said with a smile.

Nathan scoffed with a small chuckle.

"I know who you are, Lincoln Loud. You are a hero after all. They announced it on the news earlier."

Lincoln scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"You saw that too, huh?"

"Yeah… I did. You must feel real nice about it."

Lincoln put on a serious face and looked out into the distance with Nathan.

"No, not really. It's weird. I don't consider myself a hero. I wasn't fighting villains or anything. I was just trying to stop teenagers from hurting my older sister."

Nathan looked at Lincoln with shock.

"That girl was your older sister!?"

Lincoln smirked at him.

"Of course. Calling her my girlfriend was kind of embarrassing, Nathan."

Nathan laughed a little more than necessary, making Lincoln join in the laughter.

"Oh man! Can't believe that girl was your older sister. I guess I have to admit... that was really nice of you to do that for her. Err… Sorry for banging a baton against your head…"

Nathan looked away from Lincoln with regret. Lincoln smiled and gave him a hard pat on the back.

"Eh, don't worry about it. Trust me when I say… I've been through worse. Besides, I'm all better now. But thank you for apologizing. You're a lot more respectful than I thought."

Nathan sighed and looked down to the ground.

"Thanks… I did go to a pretty expensive high school after all. I needed to be respectful and stuff like that."

"An expensive high school huh? So you're a rich kid?"

"What's it to you, Lincoln?"

Lincoln laughed and looked up to the sky.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. It just reminds me of when I was eleven years old and I hung out with this rich teenager my older sister knew and despised."

A silence grew between the two as they remembered their respective pasts and troubles.

"How come you aren't mad at me, Lincoln? Most people would do anything to get revenge on the person that put them in the hospital."

"Well… there's no point in being mad at you. The way I see it, you and I had an unfavorable spat. Besides… my older sister made me promise never to fight again."

"Oh. I see."

"What about you? How come you didn't attack me as soon as you knew it was me who came out of the convenience store?", Lincoln asked Nathan.

"I just didn't want to embarrass myself. You're just… way too strong for me. If a group of my friends and I couldn't take you down, what can one of us do to you?"

Nathan sighed and looked to the ground after mentioning his friends. Lincoln put a hand on Nathan's shoulder. He looked at Lincoln with a questioned look.

"Nathan… what's wrong? I could tell something is wrong with you from a mile away."

"Nothing. Besides, why would you care?"

Lincoln smiled.

"Because we're friends now! You told me your name and I told you mine! And friends have to be there for each other."

Nathan wanted to scoff, but at this moment… he really needed to talk to someone.

"I-I… I want to apologize to my friends."

"Those teenagers that were with you at the competition?"

"Yeah… I forced them to help me and they almost got in a world of trouble because of it. They're the best friends a guy like me could have... and I f-forced them to-"

Nathan used his hand to wipe away the tears forming in his eyes. Lincoln waited for him to continue patiently.

"I forced them to do my bidding. I'm no leader, Lincoln. I just so happen to be the only one in our group of friends to arrange things. But I took things too far this time… How will they ever forgive me?"

A silence grew once again. The only things that kept their conversation from being completely quiet were the sounds of the cars passing them by on the street and the occasional sniffling of a broken-hearted kid.

Lincoln broke the silence.

"Tell me, Nathan. Why did you get expelled?"

Nathan continued to look down to the ground, avoiding eye contact with Lincoln.

"I… I did something different…"

"Something different?"

Nathan pulled out his box of cigarettes. He was about to take one out but Lincoln took it out of his hands.

"H-Hey! What's your problem, Lincoln-"

"Smoking isn't cool, Nathan. It makes you look like an idiot. Everyone knows what these do to your lungs."

Nathan pouted a bit before continuing his story.

"I was tired of the same old rich kid routine… so I joined these troublemakers at my old high school. We did crazy stuff! We would break curfew, vandalize the school walls with graffiti, steal snacks from the cafeteria. It was exhilarating. But we eventually got caught. They got off easy for some reason. I didn't. One of the judges at the competition just happened to be the teacher who wanted me expelled."

"And that's why you decided that you would wreck the place up rather than just be annoying. It became personal for you", Lincoln stated.

Nathan nodded.

"It really did become personal… I only wish I didn't bring my friends in it. They stuck with me since they understood the pain of losing your place in society… And I took advantage of their friendship."

Lincoln chuckled a little, causing Nathan to look at him in confusion.

"You know, Nathan… I totally understand."

"You do, Lincoln?"

"Sure. I didn't get to live here most of my life… I was sent to boot camp. Things happened and… I was stuck there for eight years."

"Eight years!?"

Lincoln wanted to laugh at his reaction.

"Yep. Eight long years. I pretty much lost my place in society too. So I'm just like you and your friends."

Nathan looked down at the floor once again. Lincoln took notice of this.

"And if I know anything, it's that people like us need support from our friends and family. If you can't get the support from your parents, get it from your friends", Lincoln stated.

"But, Lincoln! They're probably mad at me…"

"Yeah, but you would support them like they would support you, right?"

"Of course I would!"

Lincoln smiled heartwarmingly.

"Then an apology is all you need. A heartfelt apology and a promise to always be there for them. A promise you have to work hard to keep."

Nathan frowned.

"If it was that easy to just apologize I would have done it already."

"It's not easy, Nathan. But the best things in life aren't easy."

"What if they don't forgive me then, huh?", Nathan asked harshly, yet worriedly.

"Well… it's better than living the rest of your life avoiding them and never making amends, right?"

Before Nathan could say anything, he and Lincoln noticed a group of teenagers walking their way, talking to each other like any other teenager would. They were about to go in the convenience store when they noticed their leader and Lincoln sitting in front of the store. They immediately had regretful and somewhat sad looks on their faces.

Lincoln looked at both Nathan and his group of friends. Both looked like they wanted to say something, but being teenagers, they tried to be indirect and mysterious. The group sighed and started to walk past Nathan and Lincoln. Lincoln facepalmed.

"For the love of…"

Lincoln smacked Nathan's back to get him out of his gloomful state. Nathan looked to Lincoln annoyed.

Lincoln smirked.

"Now's your chance. Get to it."

Nathan wanted to refute, but clenched his fists before jumping up suddenly.

"W-Wait!", Nathan yelled to his group.

They stopped right before they entered the store and turned to Nathan. He looked at them with a serious look, with a tinge of regret and hesitation in his eyes.

"I… I…"

He clenched his teeth. These people were his friends. They've been there for him through thick and thin. Nathan wanted to be there for them now. He wanted to turn over a new leaf.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry I forced you all to fight a fight that wasn't yours! I'm sorry I almost got you in trouble! I'm sorry… for not being a good friend. I want to start over. I want to be a good friend to all of you! So please… Please forgive me!"

The group of teenagers looked at Nathan with a shocked look. They never expected him to throw away his pride like that. It made them emotional. One of them finally spoke out after what felt like hours of silence.

"We were never mad at you, Nathan! We felt ashamed that we couldn't do what you asked us to do at the competition!"

Nathan sniffed.

"I would never hold a grudge against you guys over something stupid like that, Beth!... I don't want to lead you guys anymore. I want to be a part of you!"

Another teenager spoke out.

"You've always been a part of us, Nathan!"

Nathan finally broke down a little and ran to his group of friends. They ran to Nathan too. Once they collided, a huge group hug occurred, with the teenagers apologizing to each other for what happened at the cake competition.

Lincoln smiled. Nathan's apology with his friends and their embrace afterwards reminded him of when he finally came home from boot camp, and his sisters buried him in their loving hug. He was about to walk away when he heard Nathan speak out towards him.

"Lincoln! Wait!"

Lincoln turned to Nathan and his group facing him. Nathan put out his hand.

"Thanks for talking some sense into me. I really needed that. Would you like to come hang out with us? To make up for what happened between you and us?"

Lincoln took Nathan's hand and shook it.

"No problem, Nathan. I would hang with you guys, but my girlfriend wanted me to buy "protection" and hurry home, so I gotta go home now."

Nathan and the group smirked at Lincoln, knowing what the protection was going to be for before looking at him questioningly.

"Protection, huh? Well, where is it?", Nathan asked.

Lincoln pointed to the bike helmet on his head.

"Right here!"

Nathan and his group groaned, surprising Lincoln.

"What?", Lincoln asked.

Nathan started to push Lincoln back into the convenience store.

"Look, just go back in there. Return the helmet, and buy the boxes labeled "Spartan Condoms", okay? If you can't find them, ask the clerk for help."

"But why?", Lincoln asked.

" 'Cause the protection your girl's talking about is not that type of protection on your head. It's for your… Look she'll help you with that! Just go, Lincoln!"

"Alright, alright, I'm going."

Lincoln entered the convenience store. Nathan sighed and wiped his forehead with his arm. His group of friends laughed.

"What?", Nathan asked them.

"That guy's really changed ya', Nathan", a female friend stated.

"Yeah! I agree. You usually are more reserved. I mean, you hugged us all today! You wouldn't even shake our hands the first time we met."

Nathan blushed out of embarrassment.

"Whatever, guys."

The group smiled at Nathan teasingly.

After a little, Lincoln exited out of the store.

"So… these things?"

Lincoln pulled out a box out of his bag. Nathan and the group quickly examined it.

"Yep! That's it!", a male friend said.

"Is this your first time getting them, dude?" another friend asked.

Lincoln chuckled.

"We really weren't taught about this sort of thing back at boot camp."

Nathan patted Lincoln's back. Lincoln flinched a little, but he knew his pat was one of a friendly gesture, rather than punishment.

"Well, I'm sure you can figure it out. It ain't rocket science."

Everyone laughed at this. Nathan and his group exchanged phone numbers with Lincoln before he said his goodbyes and left. Before he got too far, he suddenly stopped and turned to Nathan and his group.

Nathan looked at Lincoln with a raised eyebrow.

"What's up, Linc?"

Lincoln smiled.

"I just wanted to say… don't let anyone tell you guys who you are."

Nathan and his group looked a little confused. Lincoln continued.

"Just because you for example, Nathan, got expelled doesn't mean you can't do anything else. There's something out there for all of you. I mean, look at me. I just came back a few weeks ago after being trapped for eight years. Now people are calling me a hero on the news. Point is, anything can happen. You just gotta put yourself out there and find a new place in society! Don't hold yourselves back!"

Nathan and his group smiled, with Nathan in particular having a wide smile.

"Thanks, Lincoln."

Lincoln nodded with a smile before running back to his house, leaving behind hope for the teenagers.

As they watched Lincoln slowly disappear from their view, one of Nathan's friends reached over to Nathan's ear.

"Why was he wearing pajamas in public?"

Nathan shook his head and chuckled.

"I have no idea."

* * *

Lincoln opened the door to his house after unlocking it with his key. He entered his home and looked around for any sign of his family.

"Hello? Is anyone home?", Lincoln asked loudly.

"I'm up here, Lincoln! I'm in your room!", Lori yelled.

Lincoln felt confused that Lori was in his room, but he shrugged it off and proceeded to go up the stairs. When he reached the next floor, he saw that most of the furniture in his room was placed right outside his door, but out of the way of anyone's doors. At this point, Lincoln was at a loss.

"Um… Lori… Why is all of my stuff out here?"

"Why don't you come in and find out, lover-boy?", Lori said flirtatiously, with a bit of insistency.

Lincoln gulped. He felt really anxious for some reason. Lori sent him to go buy some weird things in a box, and now she was in his room. And she spoke with a very sexual tone in her voice. It was kind of scary how demanding she sounded.

"O-Okay, Lori. I'm coming in."

Lincoln opened the door to his room and looked for what Lori had in store for him. As soon as he set his eyes on her, his mouth went agape and he dropped his bag in shock. Every worry he had prior to entering that room was replaced with the urge to not let the blood in his head rush down to his other head.

Lori stared at Lincoln with a seductive look, knowing that her attire captivated his senses. She was wearing a dark-ish blue nightgown, one that at first glance seemed as if she wore it before she went to sleep every night. However, Lori knew the reason why it made Lincoln freeze in shock. It was because this specific nightgown was semi-transparent, made for situations just like this.

Lincoln's eyes traveled all over Lori's body. He could see the outline of her goddess-like curves press against the fabric of her nightgown. Although he couldn't see her magnificent breasts completely, he saw something stiffly protruding against her nightgown in the middle of her breasts.

Lori walked over to Lincoln and rubbed his cheek. She reached her head over to Lincoln's ear.

"Come in and close the door, Linky~ I'm not wearing anything under this…"

Lincoln immediately closed the door, grabbed the bag he dropped on the floor earlier, and lifted Lori into his arms.

"Oh~! Linky~"

Lincoln ran towards the mattress Lori had put in his room after taking out his bed and placing it in the hallway outside. He placed Lori on the mattress. Lori looked up to Lincoln as she laid across the mattress and tilted her head to her shoulder, making her look more provocative. Although she wanted to be the one in command during their lovemaking, if Lincoln wanted to take charge, she wasn't going to complain.

"Are you going to take me now, Lincoln? Please be gentle… I literally haven't done this in forever…"

Lincoln sighed and sat down next to Lori, surprising her.

"Lincoln? What's wrong?", she asked.

Lincoln rose his hands up to his chest and shook them rapidly.

"Nothing! Nothing! It's just, I'm a little confused! And I'm feeling like, really hot. It's kind of making me a little dizzy."

Lori smiled and hugged Lincoln close to her. She should have taken his feelings into consideration. Of course he would be a little put off by all of this. He's been stuck in boot camp most of his life. There wasn't a chance to fall in love there and have his first experience.

"Lori… How did you move all of my stuff out of my room? Wasn't it heavy?"

Lori chuckled and started to caress his soft, white hair.

"Love, Lincoln. I was able to move all the furniture out because of love."

"Um… okay then", Lincoln said blankly.

Lincoln was just going to assume that Lori had part of that apparently superhuman strength that Leni has.

"Also, quick question. What are these things?", Lincoln asked.

Lincoln took out one of the boxes of condoms and showed it to Lori. She wanted to laugh, but she held it back. She did snicker a little though.

"Those are condoms, Lincoln. They didn't teach you that at boot camp?"

Lincoln shook his head. Lori started to feel a little excited. She guessed that she would have to be the one to take control this time.

Lori beckoned Lincoln to stand up, which he instantly did. She sat down and was eye level to Lincoln's family jewels, still covered by her pajamas. Lincoln never really changed before leaving to go buy the condoms, did he? It made her want to laugh. She remembered how Lincoln just ran out of the house when she asked him to go buy protection.

"So, what are you doing down there, Lori?", Lincoln asked.

"Lincoln… you know about sex, right?"

"Sex? Um… kind of? Not really."

Lori swiftly pulled down Lincoln's pajama pants, scaring him a little.

"L-Lori! What are you doing!?"

Lori held one of her hands to her mouth in pleasant surprise, as she stared at Lincoln's sleeping beast.

"Wow… you were going commando this whole time, Lincoln?"

Lincoln blushed out of embarrassment and covered his bottom half as much as he could with his hand, even though he wasn't able to cover much up.

"I-I-It's not my fault! You didn't give me any when you handed me your pajamas to wear for the time being! And my only pair of underwear went missing after I put it with the rest of the laundry yesterday... So I had to go commando..."

The fact that Lincoln's privates had been pressing against the insides of her pajamas this whole time made Lori immensely wet. It was as if he was already rubbing his anaconda onto her bird's nest. Sweat dropped down Lori's face as she started to lose her patience. She just wanted to pounce on Lincoln then and there, and show him an adult love he was never able to experience before. But she held onto the last shreds of sanity she had left. She had to do this delicately. She didn't want to scare Lincoln off for their first time making sweet love together.

"Linky~ It's okay. Here… let me show you what the stuff in the box you bought are for."

Lori opened one of the boxes and took out what looked like, to Lincoln, a candy wrapper.

"W-Was that a box of candies?", Lincoln asked innocently.

Lori smirked at Lincoln and swatted away his hands off of his manhood.

"Nope~ These are for making sure you don't get me pregnant."

"P-P-Pregnant!? W-Wait, Lori! Are you saying that we're going to -"

Lori started to stroke Lincoln's large sausage with one of her hands, enjoying the heat radiating off it. As soon as Lori started stroking Lincoln, he clenched his eyes shut and tried to keep himself from moaning, even though the only people home at the moment were him and Lori. Lori smirked at Lincoln as she watched him struggle to keep standing. She felt his body shake with every stroke she gave him. It was adorable to her. Lori especially loved the adorable face he was making.

Soon, Lincoln's mast rose to its full length, making Lori start to massage it with both of her hands because of its large size. Lori drooled with anticipation. She had the pleasure of feeling the blood rush to Lincoln's mast and feeling it grow to its full size in her hands. Now it was time to apply the condom.

Lori ripped open one of the wrappers, and took out a condom. Lincoln looked down with one eye open to see why Lori stopped stroking him. He focused his attention on the strange rubber-looking thing Lori was holding. Lori slowly placed the center part of the condom on the tip of Lincoln's banana. She spread the condom down Lincoln's massive length with a speed that tortured Lincoln. He wanted Lori to stroke him so much more faster. Lori was amazed at how the condom couldn't cover all of Lincoln's length.

"Hm… this is a little bit of a problem, Linky~"

Lori noticed that Lincoln's hands started to shake along with his body. She smiled slyly and looked up to Lincoln.

"You're a little too big. Next time, you should buy the extra-large ones, okay~?", Lori said as she peeled the condom off of Lincoln's length.

Lincoln gulped. He had this strange, primal urge to force Lori to get back to stroking him with a greater speed. But his willpower to treat his older sister with love was so much more stronger than his primal urges, so the urges didn't really bother him. It still made him feel uncomfortable that Lori stopped stroking him though.

"O-Okay, L-L-Lori!"

Lori put her hand back on Lincoln's one-eyed snake, greatly relieving him. She started to stroke it with a rhythmic pattern of going up and down.

"I see that you're literally going crazy, aren't you, Lincoln?"

Lincoln nodded rapidly, since his words failed to come out.

Lori focused her stroking at the very tip of Lincoln's meat stick, making him moan out loud for the first time that session. Lori's eyes flashed with love and excitement as she continued her assault on Lincoln. He was just so adorable to her.

"Linky~ Could you do me another favor?"

"W-What is it, Lor-?"

Lori went even faster on Lincoln's weak spot. Lincoln had to hold his hands to his mouth to keep himself from screaming in pleasure. Lincoln had no idea how he was still standing. He couldn't feel his legs anymore. He looked down into Lori's eyes. He swore he saw faint hearts in her pupils.

"Pull out when you feel the urge to let loose your juices, okay~?", she asked, still going to town on Lincoln's manhood.

"J-J-Juices?", Lincoln asked.

Lori squeezed Lincoln's tip a little harder, making him jump.

"You know, Lincoln. Your Lincoln juices. As much as I would love to have them inside of me, I literally don't want to get pregnant right now. So please pull out, okay?"

"O-O-Okay, Lori. I-I will!"

Lori stopped stroking Lincoln and stood up. She placed her hands at the edgings of his shirt.

"If we're going to make love, we should do this all natural, right?"

Lincoln was struck out of his stunned phase and immediately held Lori's hands in place. He tried to stop her from lifting his pajama shirt to reveal his body.

"L-Lori! Wait! I don't think I'm ready to show you my-"

"Come on, Lincoln~", Lori said sexily, "I've already seen your love rod. I might as well see your abs too, right?"

"B-But, Lori-"

Lori pulled Lincoln's pajama shirt off. She gasped in shock and dropped the pajama shirt to the ground almost immediately. Fear and guilt spread across her face as she examined every last inch of Lincoln's naked upper body.

It was covered in a large amount of scars, bruises, and even some sort of tattoo in the middle of his chest. The tattoo was basically a bunch of random numbers tagged to the middle of his upper chest, right on top of his collar bones. The scars looked like they've been there for years, and were the most prevalent thing on his upper body. The bruises looked as if they were healing, but were still visible, indicating to Lori that Lincoln got them not too long ago, probably before his return. It horrified Lori to no end. And all of this was just on his front!

Lori forced Lincoln to turn around so she could see his back. Her heart sank even further. Even more scars and bruises covered his back. Probably from the "punishments" Lincoln received during his time there.

The worst thing about these scars for Lincoln was that they would never go away. He would have to live with them for the rest of his-

Lori fell to her knees and held her hands to her mouth. She felt the urge to gag start to grow in her throat. Lincoln fell beside her and hugged her tightly, ignoring the awkward undressed state he was in. Lori instantly hugged Lincoln back. Lincoln rubbed her back, a comforting move that helped her urge to vomit gradually diminish. Lincoln kissed Lori's forehead.

"I'm sorry you had to see this now, Lori… This is why I haven't let you take off my shirt yet. I… I didn't know when was a good time to mention this."

Lori chuckled and caressed Lincoln's back, as if she were soothing his scars.

"You should have told me about this the night you told me about your first week at that horrible place."

"Y-You're right… I'm so sorry, Lori… I'm so, so, sorry…"

Lori looked up into Lincoln's eyes and kissed him passionately, stopping him from crying. After they parted from the kiss, Lori smiled widely at Lincoln.

"Lincoln… don't apologize. Let's use this moment to forget. Forget about everything. Forget about our past, where our family is… Just forget about everything right now. All I want to remember right now… is our first time together, okay?"

Lincoln smiled and kiss Lori with his own passionate kiss. When he parted from her, he held her cheek lovingly.

"Anything for you, Lori. I would love to have my first time with you… if you'll let me."

Lori smiled and held the hand Lincoln left on her cheek.

"I've literally been waiting for this for the last two weeks."

Lincoln grinned and pushed Lori to the mattress, making her jokingly scream. Lincoln looked down at Lori with a coy look and started to kiss her neck, making her moan out loud.

"O-Oh~! Lincoln~"

Lori could feel Lincoln's mouth form into a smile as he continued his barrage of kisses on her neck. He arched his back up and started to fondle her breasts, making her literally scream out in pleasure.

Lori absolutely loved the attention Lincoln was giving her. She reached her hands under Lincoln and grabbed his still erect rod. She felt Lincoln start to heavily breathe on her neck after he placed his kisses on her, which made her lose her mind.

"L-Lori… F-Faster… please…"

Lori obliged and stroked Lincoln even faster. It was amazing to her how Lincoln hadn't let his fluids rush out yet. He was a lot more resilient than she thought. That made her want to make him splooge even more. Lori used her free hand to tease Lincoln's one of Lincoln's love buttons. Lincoln moaned into Lori's neck, making Lori laugh a little while making her more aroused at the same time.

Lori decided that she wanted to take command now and pushed Lincoln onto his back, putting herself on top of him. Lincoln looked up at her confused before Lori started to rub Lincoln's chest.

"You know… if you look past all these scars… You have one really nice body, Linky~"

Lincoln blushed and smiled shyly at Lori. She dragged her hand down the outline of Lincoln's abs.

"You're also really toned… When did my brother become my dream man?"

Lincoln chuckled and held Lori's hand, which was still rubbing the outlines of his abs.

"I didn't grow this body overnight, that's for sure."

Lori chuckled as well before grabbing the edgings of her nightgown.

"I almost forgot to take off my nightgown. It wouldn't be fair if you were the only one naked, right?"

Lincoln nodded, his face growing even more red. Lori's face grew red too as she stripped off her clothing. Her bare, bra-less breasts bounced a little as she dragged her nightgown off of her body and over her head. The only article of clothing she had left was her alluring, black panties. Lincoln almost fainted at the sight of Lori topless. It was the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

"Y-Y-You weren't wearing a b-b-bra!?"

Lori smiled slyly at Lincoln's reaction.

"Yep~ That's why it was easy to fondle my breasts, after all, Linky~"

Lori adjusted her position on top of Lincoln. Now his peen was right between her butt cheeks. Lincoln flinched as his manhood flickered a bit against Lori's butt. She bit her bottom lip at the sight of Lincoln's pained face. He really wanted to relieve himself. She really enjoyed teasing him. She wouldn't have been surprised if there were a wet spot under her and on top of Lincoln's chest right now.

"H-Hey, Lori?"

"Yeah, Lincoln?"

"I-Is… Is this your first time?", Lincoln asked with an innocence of someone who was going to lose their virginity.

Lori smiled and held Lincoln's hand to her chest.

"No… No it's not, Linky. I've done it before."

"W-With Bobby, right?"

"Yeah. We were each others' first. Why?"

Lincoln looked to the side, away from Lori's eyes.

"I'm… I'm a little scared. What if I'm not as good as him? You're experienced and I… I barely talked to girls my age at boot camp…"

Lori let go of Lincoln's hand to reach over to his face. She turned him to face her and look into her eyes. She kissed him softly, one full of love rather than lust.

"Lincoln… I'm not with Bobby right now. I'm not dating him. I'm with you, Lincoln. I'm dating you. You don't have to feel like you need to match up to him. You and him are incredibly different. For one… you're my brother."

Lincoln laughed at that. Lori smiled and laughed along with him.

"Yeah… That's true. It's weird how you and I fell in love with each other, huh?"

Lori traced the outline of Lincoln's abs with her finger with a dreamy look on her face. She's been dreaming of this moment for weeks. Being able to touch his abs directly… This was the best moment of her life. She looked at Lincoln with a delighted look.

"Not really. It's been years since I've seen you. It's hard to just call you my brother when you look like such a man now. Especially when you compare yourself now to yourself when you were eleven. We got attracted to each other, we got to know each other, and we fell in love with each other. Simple, yet complex. That's how love works, Lincoln."

Lincoln beamed a smile that melted Lori's heart.

"Yeah. You're right. I do love you, Lori. I love you so much."

Lori gave Lincoln another soft kiss.

"I love you too, Linky. Now, let's… begin, huh?"

"Yeah… let's."

Lori stood up and began to slide off her panties. She noticed that Lincoln's third leg was a little limp. It was probably because of their sentimental talk about her ex earlier. Lori smirked. She took her panties off quickly and threw them across Lincoln's room, along with her nightgown and Lincoln's pajamas.

She bent down and placed her mouth right next to Lincoln's ear, centimeters away from each other. Lori decided to stroke Lincoln's ego to excite him.

"By the way… Another thing that's different about you… Your's is literally the biggest one I've ever seen."

Sure enough, to Lori's delight, Lincoln's love rod immediately rose up from its nap.

Lori's eyes twinkled. She grabbed Lincoln's love rod and directed it to her love pocket. She straightened her back and looked down at Lincoln.

"So… Ready to lose your virginity, Linky?"

Lincoln had his own dreamy look on his face. He stared at Lori's bare body. She was giving herself to him, love and all. It made him extremely happy. Especially when every part of her was beautiful. From the top of her head, to the bottom of her feet, and to the depths of her heart. Everything about Lori was perfect to him.

"Y-Yeah. I'm ready, Lori."

"Good. Here we- AH~!"

Only Lincoln's tip managed to enter her cooch and she was already feeling the urge to climax all over him.

Lincoln looked up to Lori to see a very satisfied look on her face. Her mouth was open as wide as it could be and was in the shape of a smile. Her tongue was sticking out the side of her mouth. Her eyes looked up to the ceiling in ecstasy. Lincoln felt her shaking on the tip of his manhood. He could tell she was trying really hard not to already be finished when they had just started.

Lincoln placed his hands on Lori's hips. That move seem to have taken her out of her trance, as she looked down to Lincoln with a questioned look.

"Here, Lori… Let me help you, okay?"

Lori nodded. Her voice was gone at the moment. She had to keep her focus on not making her first memory with Lincoln short lived.

Lincoln slowly started to push Lori down onto his manhood. She clenched her teeth. It was a tight fit for the both of them. Lori hadn't had sex with anyone since Bobby, and Lincoln was bigger than she had expected.

It felt like it was taking way too long. Both Lori and Lincoln had cringed every step of the way, wanting to get to the pleasure already, instead of taking their time like this. Finally, Lori felt her bottom touch the surface of Lincoln's body. It was done. Lori had the entirety of Lincoln's length in her. She was able to withstand the pleasure and keep herself from climaxing way too early. She beamed with happiness at the fact that Lincoln was fully in her. She was able to take in all of his love, and it felt just perfect.

She looked down at Lincoln to see him panting heavily with his eyes closed, and his arms at his side. Lori noticed that he was twitching a lot inside of her. He was trying his best not to finish too early as well. Lori smiled.

"H-Hey… Lincoln?"

Lincoln opened one of his eyes and looked at Lori. Her eyes were half open, sending a sexual look that was directed towards him.

"Y-Yeah, Lori?"

"I-I'm going to start moving now… okay?", Lori asked.

"O-Okay", Lincoln said.

"O-Okay… here goes… a-ah… A-ah… A-AH…"

Lori started to move up, torturing Lincoln with her slow and steady speed. When she reached his tip, she closed her eyes, thinking that she was prepared for anything that was to come next. She was wrong.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!"

Lori screamed out with bliss as soon as she moved back down to Lincoln. She went a little bit faster than expected. Her eyes opened immediately and stared back at the ceiling. Her tongue stuck out once more. She started to pant heavily.

Lincoln, on the other hand, was losing his mind as well. Instead of screaming like Lori did, he made a face that resembled the one people made whenever they ate something sour. He had felt a short but amazing pleasure when Lori had moved up and down on his hard-on. He needed more of that pleasure.

Lincoln grabbed onto Lori's hips once again and started to lift her up. Lori noticed this and tried to stop Lincoln from making her go crazy.

"W-Wait, Linc- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!"

Lincoln pushed Lori back down onto his erect form of love. She fell limp onto his chest and started drooling. Lincoln paid no attention to the drool though. He lost his mind to the pleasure as well.

He started to continually thrust up and down, while at the same time, lifted Lori's hips up and down, matching the rhythm of his thrusts and her bottom movements. A stupefied smile grew on her face as Lincoln thrusted his hard rod into her. She moaned with every lunge Lincoln made in her.

"Ah~! Ah~! Ah~! F-F-Fuck~ L-L-Lincoln! F-Faster! F-Faster!"

Lincoln grunted in approval and began to move even faster.

"AHHHH~! YES! THAT'S IT, LINCOLN! FASTER! FASTER!"

Lori began to basically bounce on top of Lincoln, following his rhythm. It seems as if she recovered from her stupor and decided to join in on the love making. Lincoln felt relieved at the fact that he didn't have to move Lori for her anymore. She reached over to his mouth and started to passionately kiss him. She pushed her tongue into his mouth and started wrestling with his tongue, trying to win dominance of his mouth.

"I wuv you so muc, -inky~", Lori managed to say while at the same time keeping her mouth on Lincoln's.

Lincoln was in a state of euphoria now. He couldn't think rationally anymore. He was turning into a sexual beast. He moved away from Lori's kiss and looked at her dreamy, half-opened eyes, while still thrusting in and out of her love pocket.

"I *grunt* love you so much *grunt* too, Lori!"

Lincoln sat up and held Lori in his arms. She squealed in pleasure as Lincoln thrusted even faster in her, in their new position.

"OH~! LINCOLN~!"

Lincoln didn't stop there. He stood up and carried her to the wall, and pushed her against it. Once she was safely secured against the wall, Lincoln thrusted the entirety of Lincoln Jr. into her over and over. Lori couldn't even talk at this point. She just moaned loudly with ecstasy. She soon felt a familiar urge start to grow in her.

"AH~! AH~! AH~! YES! YES! I-I'M- I'M C-CUMMING! LINCOLN, I'M CUMMING!"

At this point, Lori was bouncing rapidly up and down on Lincoln's manhood. He clenched his eyes shut and continued to plow Lori with all the speed he could muster.

"I-I'M CUMMING TOO, LORI!"

"CUM WITH ME, LINKY~! CUM WITH ME! PLEA- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Lincoln instantly pulled out of Lori right before he was about to let loose his juices onto the outside world. He was incredibly backed up today because of Lori's constant sexual teasing. So backed up that he let loose long strings of his man juice. Because Lincoln was able to take his meat stick out of Lori right before it erupted, his juices flew upwards towards Lori's face, the ceiling above them, and the wall behind them.

Lori's honey pot burst out onto Lincoln's rod and covered his whole bottom part of his body with her sweet liquid. The floor under their feet was covered with a mix of Lori's womanly liquids and Lincoln's milky substance.

The two lovebirds breathed heavily as they held onto each other, eyes shut and heads facing down. When they opened their eyes, they looked at each other lovingly. They both fell to the floor, with Lori still on top of Lincoln, not caring about their fluids being all around them. Lori spoke first.

"That… was amazing, twerp", Lori stated sweetly.

"Thanks, Lori. You were amazing too."

Lori grinned and wiped some of Lincoln's milk off of her face. She took it close to her mouth and lapped some up.

"Mmmm… delicious", Lori cooed.

Lori felt Lincoln grow hard again and press against her cooch. She smirked.

"Ooh~ Ready for round two already, Lincoln?"

Lincoln bashfully smiled.

"Sorry."

"Hehe, it's okay, Lincoln."

Lori looked around the room and examined the mess they made.

"We have to savagely clean this place when we're finished, okay? Your cream is literally everywhere. It's even on the ceiling!"

Lincoln looked up to the ceiling and chuckled.

"Whoops?", he said with an embarrassed smile on his face.

Lori raised an eyebrow at Lincoln, but kept her loving smile on her face. She looked at the window in his room and noticed that it was still daytime.

"Well… it's fine. Everyone won't be home until nighttime anyway, so we could clean this place before then. For now… let's do it again!"

Lori jumped onto Lincoln and started making out with him again. Lincoln happily kissed her back. The two lovers have never felt a happiness of this magnitude in their lives before. They would cherish it for the rest of their lives.

…

…

…

The first forbidden flower fell. The seeds that fell with it will spread across the world to grow another forbidden love. One that might come soon again for Lincoln.


	8. Spending Some Time with the Family

_**Chapter 8: Spending Some Time with the Family**_

Lincoln yawned and stretched out his arms. Well, he stretched them out as far as he could. Right now, his movements were restricted by Leni's arms in a familiar position he found himself in every morning. The difference was that Lincoln was facing away from Leni, while she was hugging his back, sleeping soundly. He was glad that Leni was hugging him under his arms; At least they were free.

Lincoln could tell that she was getting better. Although she wouldn't go outside of the Loud House on her own, she was willing to go out with the family now. Her hair was a little less messier than it was the night he reunited with everyone, and she got back into the habit of collecting a few fashion magazines here and there, which hopefully meant that she would get back into designing her own fashion line.

Lincoln reached over with one of his arms and held one of Leni's hands, rubbing and massaging it. He heard Leni make an approving sound. If he were facing her, he would have seen her smile. Lincoln closed his eyes and enjoyed Leni's company and warmth. Leni hugging him during her sleep was always the best excuse for him to sleep in. Although he did kind of miss jogging every morning.

Suddenly, Lincoln's eyes popped open and his face reddened immediately. He felt something amazing happening below his belt, and started to moan softly as something went up and down in a rhythmic pattern on his manhood, making his flimsy log grow stiff. It was such a pleasurable yet weird feeling; hot and wet at the same time. And he swore something was rubbing itself all over his manhood, especially at the very tip.

"Mmm… Mm! Mmmm~"

Lincoln heard the sounds of a soft moaning under the sheets. He looked towards the sound and noticed a big bump where his family jewels were located. Using his free hand, he lifted the sheets covering his bottom half up. As soon as he lifted them up, he saw blonde hair bobbing up and down on his member, occasionally stopping at his very tip to lick it rapidly.

"L-Lori!"

Lori looked up at Lincoln, with his meat stick still in her mouth. She smiled with her eyes and continued to bob up and down. Lincoln clenched the mattress covering under him and gritted his teeth. He never would have thought that there would be anything else that would feel better than having sex. But Lori had just proven him wrong. As the feeling of ecstasy started to overwhelm him, Lincoln felt incredibly guilty for enjoying this. Especially since Leni was right behind him.

"L-Lori… S-Stop… L-Leni's right… here…"

Lori looked up at Lincoln again before suckling his sausage as tight as she could. Lincoln shut his eyes tight. He had to use all of his willpower not to moan anymore louder than he already was. Soon, Lori took her mouth off of Lincoln's love rod. When she removed her mouth off of it, a loud pop sounded. Lincoln froze and waited for Leni to wake up. Fortunately for the two, the sound wasn't loud enough, as Leni seemed like she was still asleep.

Lincoln frowned at Lori, who was smirking back at him.

"L-Lori! That was dangerous! What if someone comes in and sees us?"

"Don't worry, Linky~ No one's awake yet. See?"

Lori took out her phone and showed the screen to Lincoln. She was right. It was about thirty minutes before anyone's alarms would ring out and wake everyone up for the day. Lincoln looked away from her phone to look at her. As soon as he saw her, he gulped. There was a dangerous tinkle in Lori's eyes. She put her phone back in her pocket and started to sink back down to Lincoln's manhood.

"W-What about Leni!? What if she wakes up and sees-"

Lori started to stroke Lincoln, making him stiffen up and clench his mouth shut. Lori smiled seductively at Lincoln.

"Don't worry so much… I'll be quiet, okay?"

Lincoln closed his eyes and nodded, trying hard not to let the pleasure consume his rational thoughts. Lori grinned and began to lick Lincoln Jr. Lincoln couldn't help but moan out a little.

"W-Where did you get the idea for this, L-Lori?"

"I wanted to do this with you yesterday, but you turned into a complete beast~ You didn't even let go of me for a second~!"

"O-Oh yeah… Sorry about tha-"

Lori slurped on the tip of Lincoln's meat rod. Lincoln held his hand to his mouth to keep himself from moaning out loud. Lori took her mouth off of Lincoln again and began to stroke it.

"It's fine, Linky~ It was amazing. I was more surprised at the speed you went placing all of your furniture back in your room. It was almost as fast as when you shoved your dick in me~"

Lincoln felt his mast harden even more. Hearing his older sister refer to his genitalia as something as vulgar as "dick" turned him incredibly on. Lust started to poison his mind. Lori beamed at the realization that Lincoln was losing his mind over how sexy she was acting. She stroked his manhood a bit faster before replacing her hands with her mouth. Lincoln felt himself melt at the pleasure Lori was giving him. He felt bad that he couldn't return the favor, but Leni had him tightly grasped.

Lori was enjoying this a lot more than she had expected when she started. She never did something like this before, even for Bobby, so she assumed that the male genitalia would taste really weird or disgusting. It didn't really taste like anything though. It was a little salty, but that was it. What Lori did enjoy about it was the fact that Lincoln was squirming right under her. She thought the face he made the first time they made love was adorable already. But the face he made now, when she was giving him a blowy, was impossibly more adorable.

' _I guess Lincoln's a fan of blowjobs, huh? I wouldn't mind giving him some more~'_ , Lori thought, sucking Lincoln's member even harder.

The sudden tightness of Lori's mouth made Lincoln almost scream out in pleasure. He couldn't stop his back from arching upwards a little. Lori felt his manly rod start to twitch more and more. Lincoln Jr. was getting ready to explode, and Lori couldn't wait. She wanted all of Lincoln's love. She couldn't accept it down there under the fear of getting pregnant, but she would absolutely love to accept his love juices in her mouth.

"L-Lori! I'm-… I'm-!", Lincoln whispered loudly.

Lori bobbed her head even faster, begging Lincoln for the sweet release of his essence.

"A-AHHHH!~", Lincoln yelled as quietly and as short as he could.

Lori's cheeks puffed out a little, as Lincoln shot out more than she expected. She looked up at Lincoln to see the most blissful face she's ever seen on a person. Her eyes smiled at Lincoln before closing. She focused on swallowing Lincoln's cream.

"*Gulp*... *Gulp*… *Gulp*... Ah~!", Lori said after she swallowed all of it.

She stuck her tongue out to show Lincoln, which made him smile bashfully in appreciation. Lincoln fell back onto the pillow and closed his eyes out of exhaustion and pleasure. He was even sweating a little.

"Tasted a little weird. A bit salty. But in a good way…", Lori stated before smirking at Lincoln, "Thank you for breakfast, Linky~"

Lincoln was breathing heavily, so he couldn't reply back. Lori didn't mind. She just smirked and took a mental picture of Lincoln's face for… private purposes. Then she took out her phone and just took an actual photo. His adorable face was definitely going to be her phone's home screen wallpaper.

Lori put her phone away and pulled herself out of Leni's sheets. She stood up and stretched herself out before turning to Lincoln.

"I think the alarms are going to go off soon, so I'm going to take first dibs on the bathroom today. I'll see you downstairs for breakfast, okay, sweetie?"

Lincoln nodded, still breathing a little heavily.

' _I really have to do this for him again~",_ Lori thought to herself before sneaking a glance at him, smiling lovingly, and leaving the room.

Lincoln took a few more deep breaths before finally calming down. He pulled his pajama pants back up and rested his body against the bed. He thought Lori would be tired because of what happened yesterday between them, but she looked like she was full of energy instead!

Lincoln decided that he should wake Leni up now. They have to go get ready for breakfast too. Lincoln tried to wiggle out of Leni's arms. Funny enough, it was usually impossible for him to escape Leni's grasp. Today, her grip was a little bit weak thoug-

"What were you and Lori doing, Linky?"

Lincoln froze in fear for the second time that morning. He turned to Leni to see that her sleeping mask wasn't covering her eyes anymore. She was staring right at him with an innocent smile.

"U-U-Uhhh, Y-You- Uhhh- What?", Lincoln replied.

Leni giggled at Lincoln's answer.

"Linky, you're so silly~ I asked what were you doing with Lori!"

Lincoln gulped. He had no idea what to say.

"U-U-U-Uhh… D-Did you see?"

"No? That's why I'm, like, asking you!"

Lincoln mentally sighed with relief.

"But I did hear you make some… weird noises...", Leni continued, a puzzled look apparent on her face.

Lincoln's heart clenched in fear again.

"U-U-UHH… Y-You heard me… m-moan?"

Leni sat up on her bed and brought Lincoln up with her, still holding him tight. She smiled.

"I think so? I never heard you make a sound like that before! It made me feel… excited! I think?"

Lincoln felt a little confused at what Leni was saying. He felt a sweat drop from the top of his head to the middle of his forehead.

"E-Excited?", Lincoln asked.

"Yeah! Totes excited!", Leni answered.

Leni started to jump on the bed a little with joy. Although she wasn't physically jumping on the bed, she made the jumping movement while sitting down, making her go up and down on the mattress. Since she was still holding Lincoln in her arms, she made Lincoln jump with her.

"I've never felt like this before! I don't know how to, like, explain it!", Leni declared.

"M-Me neither, Leni!"

Suddenly, as if realization hit her, Leni stopped jumping and let go of Lincoln. She looked at him with a questioning look.

"Linky?"

"Y-Yes, Leni?"

Lincoln hoped that Leni wasn't going to ask him something about the birds and the bees. He would be just as clueless as her. Well, almost as clueless at least.

"Why was Lori in the same bed as us? What were you two doing... without me?", Leni said, having a puzzled tone right until the very end of her question, where her tone shifted into a somber tone.

Lincoln felt horrible. He made Leni felt like she was being left out, which in turn, made her feel gloomy. Lincoln felt like he could faint at any moment. Leni was just too innocent for this world. He never wanted to hide stuff from Leni, or anyone in his family for that matter. He wanted to tell her everything...

...

...

But... he had to continue to lie. He had to come up with a convincing lie! He couldn't let his relationship with Lori already be discovered! They weren't ready to tell anyone yet. Especially someone from their family!

Lincoln shook his head rapidly, seemingly reorganizing his thoughts and calming himself down. He looked at Leni with a little bit more confidence. Although he hated lying to his amazing and kind older sister, he had to. For Lori.

First though, he had to clarify something.

"Leni, we weren't leaving you out of anything, if that's what you're thinking. We were just talking about boring stuff."

Leni's somber mood seemed to have disappeared in the room and was replaced by a perplexed look on her face.

"Really, Linky?"

"Of course. If we were planning to do something you'd like to do, we would definitely invite you!", Lincoln stated heartwarmingly.

Leni smiled widely at Lincoln. Lincoln could see a small amount of tears start to form at the bottom of her eyes.

"Aww… Thank you."

Leni started to tidy up Lincoln's bed hair for him. Lincoln grinned.

"You're welcome, Leni. You know that I'm never going to leave you behind again, right?"

Leni held Lincoln's cheeks, making him giggle a little out of embarrassment. Leni kissed Lincoln's forehead.

"Yeah, I know you won't, Linky."

Lincoln blushed a little at how motherly Leni had become after all these years.

"T-Then you have nothing to worry about!", Lincoln said bashfully.

Leni let go of Lincoln's cheeks and put on that questioned look of hers again.

"So… why was Lori in the same bed as us? Did she wet her bed? It's okay if she did."

"U-Uh no. She didn't… She told me last night that she felt lonely and that... s-she wanted to sleep with us!"

"After I fell asleep?", Leni asked, tilting her head.

"Yeah! She and I didn't want to wake you up to ask. Is it bad that Lori slept in the same bed as us?"

Although Leni really didn't mind Lori sleeping in the same bed as she and Lincoln, she did feel a little peeved that Lori intruded on their private time. Leni ignored that strange, bitter feeling that rose when she thought about Lori taking Lincoln away from her. It wasn't easy to ignore that pestering feeling though.

She turned to Lincoln with a smile, hoping he could distract her from her own emotions.

"I'm totes fine with Lori sleeping with us! *GASP*"

Leni suddenly gasped and clasped her hands together. She had a dreamy look in her eyes. An idea blossomed inside her head, replacing that feeling of Lori possibly stealing Lincoln entirely.

"WE SHOULD HAVE A SLEEPOVER WITH EVERYONE!", Leni declared.

"A sleepover? That actually sounds like a lot of fun!"

"It does, right? We should invite everyone! Except for Mom and Dad!", Leni stated.

"Why not Mom and Dad?", Lincoln asked.

"Because! If they're not there, we could, like, share secrets with each other and tell each other stories! It'll be totes fun!"

Lincoln wanted to tell Leni that it was still easy to hear each other through the thin walls of this house, but he didn't want to spoil Leni's excitement. Also, he was sure his parents would be sleeping like logs if they decided to stay up a little later, so they probably wouldn't even be awake to hear any of their conversations. It's convenient that everyone in this house were deep sleepers. Well, except for him… boot camp never really let him sleep in after all.

Lincoln started to share Leni's enthusiasm over the sleepover she wanted to have with everyone.

"We have to do it soon then! Do you want to be the one to organize it, Leni?"

"OH MY GOD! YES!"

Lincoln grinned at Leni's enthusiasm.

"Alright then. You don't have to do much, Leni. You could just set up a date and time, and I'll ask everyone."

"Ooooh, I can't wait, Linky! We'll have so much fun!"

Lincoln chuckled and wiped his forehead, getting rid of the small amount of sweat. Leni had gotten her mind preoccupied with the planned sleepover thing with all of his sisters now, so she forgot all about what he and Lori were doing under her sheets. Lincoln had to admit though; He was looking forward to this sleepover.

 ***RING! RING! RING!***

Leni and Lincoln jumped a little at the sound of everyone's alarms going off, signaling the start of the day.

"Looks like that's our cue to get ready for the day! Let's go, Leni!", Lincoln said as he went over to and turned off Lori and Leni's respective alarms.

Leni smiled widely, excited for the day and the planned sleepover.

"Okay!"

Lincoln left the room first. Before Leni was about to leave, she felt the most strange feeling in her undergarments. She looked down and felt her womanhood with her finger to feel a wet spot.

"Oh no! I wet myself! That's, like, major embarrassing! I have to throw this in the laundry fast!"

Leni ran out her room and to the laundry chute.

* * *

Everyone was at the dinner table, eating the breakfast Rita made for all of them. They were all chatting about whatever caught their interests. Because today was a weekday, most of them had to say goodbye to Lincoln after they finished breakfast, which still made them feel a little saddened, but they were able to hide that feeling a lot better now.

"Hey, little bro! What are ya' planning on doing today?", Luna asked.

Lincoln shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I guess what I usually do everyday."

"And what's that?", Lola asked.

"Hug Leni until everyone comes back home."

Lincoln continued to eat his food as if what he said was normal. He didn't notice that some of his sisters felt frustrated and envious that Leni got to hang out with Lincoln all day again, and that some of them felt uncomfortable, thinking that there was something more to their brother being with Leni than just hugging.

Rita and Lynn Sr. Looked at everyone at the table in confusion. It suddenly got tense. Just like it was before Lincoln returned home.

Lincoln soon noticed the tense atmosphere as well. Other than Lori, Leni, Lisa, and Lily, who were just happily eating their food, everyone else was quiet; only nibbling a bit of their breakfast at a time, as if they lost their appetite.

"What's wrong, guys?", Lincoln asked worriedly.

This seemed to wake the girls out of their stupor. At the sound of Lincoln's concern, they all jumped a little and turned to look at him, smiles on their faces as if nothing was wrong.

"Nothing! Yeah, no worries here, bro. No problems at all!", the various sisters said.

Lincoln smiled, and started to chuckle a little at the graceless way they replied to him. His chuckle eventually led to the entire family starting to laugh at how awkward the air around the table was just a few seconds ago.

"Boy, that was weird, huh?", Lincoln asked jokingly.

"Yeah, it sure was, awk- "weird"! Get it?", Luan asked.

The awkward atmosphere was lost entirely, and was replaced by the comfortable energy that flowed out of everyone, except for Lincoln, expressing their disgust at Luan's pun, which made Luan laugh.

"Oh yeah!", Lincoln remarked, "Leni came up with something fun earlier!"

Leni immediately smiled at what Lincoln was referring to.

"What's up, Linc?", Lynn asked.

"We should all have a sleepover!"

The sisters' eyes lit up at that suggestion, and smiles covered their faces.

"Wow, that sounds like fun! Haven't had one of those in awhile! I call sleeping next to Lincoln!", the various sisters yelled out.

Leni was incredibly happy. Her sisters liked the idea that she came up with earlier with Lincoln.

Lori noticed Leni's flattered smile and nudged her a little. Leni turned to Lori in confusion to see a Lori looking back at her with a proud expression.

"Nice one, sis", Lori stated wholeheartedly.

The other sisters took notice of this and joined in on praising their older sister.

"Yeah, Leni! A sleepover sounds like a lot of fun! Indeed, a friendly family gathering before we suspend our consciousness seems like good fun. Great idea, sis!", the various sisters said to Leni.

Leni smiled even more. She blushed out of embarrassment a little. She'd never gotten so much recognition before from anyone, and her family just gave her as much recognition as they could give to her. She turned to Lincoln, who was sitting next to her, and hugged him tightly, thanking him for his support. Lincoln grinned widely and hugged Leni back. Everyone at the table smiled at Leni and Lincoln's loving hug. Rita and Lynn Sr. in particular expressed their happiness at their children's small hug with an "aww".

"So, when's the sleepover gonna' be, Leni?", Lily asked.

Leni let go of Lincoln and looked at Lily. She placed her finger to her chin, seemingly thinking of an answer.

"Um… I, like, have no idea, Lily!"

"How about this weekend, dudes? I have work all week at night as usual, but the weekends are always my free days!", Luna declared.

"I agree with Luna. I have to work at the cafe every night except for the weekends too. Saturday and Sunday are literally the best days for any family hangout stuff", Lori said.

Luan pulled out a calendar out of nowhere, much to everyone's surprise, and smirked. She took out a black marker and crossed out that week's Saturday.

"I have work… but for the sleepover, I guess I'll have to take a… "day" off!", Luan laughed.

Groans and the sound of Luan, Lincoln, and Lynn Sr's laughter filled the room.

Lori shook her head and turned to Leni.

"So is Saturday good, Leni?"

"Is Saturday good for what?"

"... For the sleepover."

"OH! Saturday, huh? Saturday is totes good for the sleepover!"

"Alright then, this Saturday is the sleepover. Okay, guys?", Lori asked her siblings.

"Yeah!", everyone cheered.

Lori smiled and stood up to put away her dish.

"Lori!", Rita exclaimed, "You barely ate anything on your plate! Are you okay?"

Everyone turned to Lori with worry. Lori blushed a little, but no one noticed.

"No, I'm alright, Mom. It's just that…"

She looked over at Lincoln with a dangerous look in her eye. Lincoln felt chills run down his spine.

"Linky already gave me some… breakfast…~"

Lori sauntered into the kitchen to put her dish in the fridge for later consumption. Rita and everyone looked at Lincoln with puzzled expressions, while bullets of sweat threatened to fall down Lincoln's face.

"You gave Lori some breakfast today, Lincoln?", Rita asked.

Lincoln gulped. He could feel everyone staring at him; their eyes wandering all over his defenseless body.

' _D-Dang it, Lori! Are you trying to expose our relationship to everyone?!'_ , Lincoln thought to himself.

"Y-Yeah, Mom! S-Sorry. I had some snacks that I thought Lori would love and she and I ended up eating most of them. That's probably why we're not that hungry. Sorry again."

"Well, that's okay… But I don't want you guys to eat before breakfast. Okay, Lincoln?", Rita asked.

Lincoln nodded.

"O-Okay, Mom."

Rita smiled.

"Good", Rita said lovingly.

Everyone at the table accepted that answer and continued to eat. Lincoln felt his heart stop for a second before starting to beat again, as he allowed his subconscious to breathe. Lincoln let out a deep breath. Lori walked in and took her back her spot next to Leni. She snuck a smirk at Lincoln, who returned it with a sigh and a small smile, unable to be mad at his lover and sister.

…

"Bye, Lincoln! Bye, Linky! Farewell, brother. Have a good day, bro!"

Lincoln's sisters left for their respective daily lives. Lincoln smiled at all of them and waved.

"Bye, guys!"

Soon after, Rita walked out the door as well.

"Bye, sweetie! Don't get into any trouble today, okay?"

"Alright, Mom! Bye!"

Lori walked up to Lincoln from behind and hugged him.

"Hey, Linky~"

"L-Lori! What if someone sees?!"

"It's fine! Dad's still in his room, Leni is upstairs in hers, and Luan is in the bathroom. I think we're safe~"

Lincoln put on a stern face.

"Lori; I didn't like what you said during breakfast! What if someone got the wrong idea? I don't feel like you're serious about keeping this relationship a secret."

Lori put on a fake pained face. Unfortunately for Lincoln, her pained face looked genuine.

"Lincoln! I don't know what to say! Of course I'm serious about our relationship! I'm deeply offended! Don't you trust me?", Lori said with an exaggerated tone.

Lincoln felt his heart drop. He didn't catch on that Lori was joking around with him.

"O-Of course I trust you, Lori! Y-You almost e-e-exposed our relationship to our entire f-family… but I'll never stop trusting you! I'm sorry… I didn't mean to hurt you. I just-"

Lori placed a finger on Lincoln's mouth to shut him up and couldn't help but snicker a little. Lincoln was too gullible for his own good sometimes. But that's one of the things that make him so lovable.

"Sorry, Lincoln, I'm just teasing you~ I understand. Next time, I'll be more discrete, okay?"

Lincoln smiled and surprised Lori with a passionate kiss; one that she happily returned. Lincoln parted their kiss.

"Thanks, Lori. It really means alot to me."

Lori beamed, a blush left on her face from Lincoln's surprise attack.

"Of course, Linc-"

"Lori! Hurry up!", Luna yelled from outside the house.

Lori almost forgot that she had to drive her and Luna to college.

"Whoops! Sorry, Luna! I'm on my way!", Lori yelled back.

She turned to Lincoln and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Bye, Linky~", Lori whispered.

"Have a nice day at college, okay? I'll see you in the afternoon!", Lincoln whispered back.

Lori grinned at Lincoln and ran out the door, leaving him the only one left standing in the living room. He decided to go back to bed with Leni. Lincoln turned and looked up the stairs to see Leni and Luan already heading down.

"Linky!", Leni said with glee.

"Lincoln!", Luan called out.

They both approached Lincoln up close, surprising him a little.

"Let's hang out today!", the two older sisters said at the same time to Lincoln.

Lincoln looked at them with confusion, which led to them looking at each other with confusion. Soon, a confused look appeared on Leni's face while an annoyed look appeared on Luan's face.

"Um, Luan? I want to hang out with Lincoln today."

Luan crossed her arms and rose an eyebrow at Leni.

"Not today. You've been taking a lot of Lincoln's free time. You always get to hug him all morning! Now it's my turn to spend time with him. "

Leni looked unhappy at Luan's declaration.

"I don't hug him all morning, Luan! Usually, we take "nappies" too!"

"You hog Lincoln to yourself every morning! It's almost like…"

Luan stopped and a grin appeared on her face. She was shaking a little, so it seemed like she was trying really hard to not say something.

"I-It's almost like… y-y-you… kid "nap" ped him! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Luan started to laugh like how she usually did after a pun, with Leni looking at her confused.

"But, Luan! Lincoln's not a kid anymore! He's a full grown man! He can't be kidnapped!"

Luan wiped a tear from her eye and looked at Leni with a stern look.

"Look. I think I should get to hang out with Lincoln today! You could hang out with him later! It's always Lily who gets to hang out with him first! And if she's not home, it's always you! I missed Lincoln too, you know?"

Lincoln stood between the two awkwardly. He decided to intercede and break up the argument between the two when Leni suddenly sighed and frowned. She understood where Luan was coming from after all. She wasn't the only one who desperately wanted Lincoln to come home.

"Yeah… You're totes right, Luan. I shouldn't take all of Lincoln's time from you. You can hang out with Lincoln today."

Luan was about to cheer and take Lincoln to her room when they heard the sound of their parents' room clicking open. They turned to the sound to see Lynn Sr. coming out of his and Rita's room. He smiled when he saw his children.

"Oh! Hey, kids!"

"Hey, Dad!", Leni and Lincoln both said.

Luan waved softly at her dad. It was clear to everyone that she was still a little bit put off by him.

Lynn Sr. sighed in his head. He knew that it would take a while for Luan and his younger daughters to forgive him. He just wished they would forgive him soon. He wanted to make amends with them; especially now that Lincoln was home. But that was a matter for another time. Now… it was time for something else.

"How come you're not at work, Dad?", Lincoln asked.

Lynn Sr. smiled.

"I took a day-off today."

"Why? Are you sick?", Leni asked worriedly.

Lynn Sr. shook his head.

"No, no. Nothing like that. I took a day off today because… I want to spend some time with you, Lincoln."

Lincoln tilted his head in confusion. He pointed at himself.

"Me?"

Lynn Sr. chuckled.

"Yeah. If that's alright with you, we could go do something in Royal Woods. Your mom let us use Vanzilla for today."

Lincoln looked awkwardly at Luan, who decided to look away from everyone to avoid eye contact with Lynn Sr. He wanted to say that he already had plans to do something with Luan, but his dad already decided to take the day off! He'd feel bad if he told him that he was actually busy.

Lincoln looked back at Lynn Sr. and gave him a small smile.

"Sure, Dad. But let me go get ready. I don't want to wear Lori's pajamas outside the house… again."

"Of course, son. Call me when you're ready and we'll head out."

Lynn Sr. walked back into his room. Lincoln turned to Luan with a dejected look. He felt horrible that he had to choose to hang out with his dad over hanging out with her. But Lincoln felt obligated to spend some time with him now. Lynn Sr. did take the day off. He probably had a bunch of things planned for them to do. Still… he knew he had to apologize to Luan.

"I'm sorry, Luan. I know you wanted to hang out with me today. But Dad… He took a day off work, just to spend some time with me. I'd feel bad if I told him no."

Luan grabbed his arm and let it hang from her grip, surprising Lincoln enough to replace his depressed expression with a dumbfounded one.

"It's alright, Lincoln! We could "hang" out later. Just remember that next time, I get first dibs, okay?"

Lincoln laughed at Luan's forced pun and nodded with his usual smile. Luan let go of his arm and looked back at Lincoln, chuckling a little. Although a similar smile was on her face, as soon as he set his eyes on her after he finished laughing, Lincoln's heart sank. Luan's smile just seemed so fake and forced. It reminded him of the way he used to smile before he came back home. Lincoln reached out to hold Luan's hand.

"Luan-"

Lincoln was interrupted by Luan suddenly turning away from him and walking upstairs without a word. Before she headed up the stairs, he was able to get a glance of her face. Her nose was scrunched up, her mouth was curled into a frown, and her eyes seemed to be glaring into nowhere. It was obvious that she was incredibly disappointed. Lincoln felt shocked and saddened as he watched her disappear into her room at the bottom of the stairs, with Leni wondering what was going on.

* * *

Lincoln sat in the passenger seat of Vanzilla, where Rita usually sat, once again wearing another set of his dad's old clothes. It was the only thing he had left to wear, other than Lori's pajamas. The other set of clothes Lynn Sr. had given him were basically ripped to shreds after he had fought Nathan and his friends in the auditorium a couple of days ago.

Lynn Sr. was in the middle of driving him and Lincoln to the first place he had planned for them to go to. Lincoln was still a little unhappy about what occurred between him and Luan, but he managed to keep a smile on his face as to not worry his dad. However, the atmosphere in the family van was very awkward. No one knew what to say or do. Lynn Sr. distracted himself by driving, and Lincoln distracted himself by thinking of Luan. After ten minutes of driving without a single word, Lincoln decided to break the ice.

"So, what's the plan, Dad?", Lincoln asked, hoping some small chat would make him feel better.

"Oh, right! I forgot to mention it to you. We're going to follow this list I found on the internet of what fathers have to do with their sons."

"You're following a list?"

"That's right, Lincoln! Although, most of the stuff on this list is kind of… out of my price range at the moment… So I decided to "list" -en to my heart and choose what seems right for us to do! Even though I only chose, er, two things to do."

Lincoln chuckled at Lynn Sr.'s stupid pun for a little before being silent once again. That awkward atmosphere started creeping back in the van.

"Y-You wanna know what we're going to do first, Lincoln?", Lynn Sr. asked, this time trying his hand at breaking the ice.

"Sure, Dad. What are we doing?"

"We're going to go hunt for our lunch!"

"... What?"

"We're going to go hunt for our lunch, Lincoln!"

"We're... going to hunt for our lunch, Dad?"

"Well, not literally."

"Oh, thank god."

"But we are going to find some ingredients for something I'm planning to cook for everyone later at the supermarket."

"You can cook now, Dad?"

"Of course I could cook, Lincoln! Remember that mean lasagna I made for everyone that one time? It's just usually, your mom or one of your sisters volunteers to do it."

"Oh yeah, I remember that! Man… that seems like forever ago. I completely forgot you could cook."

"Come on, Lincoln. Give me some credit. It's not like I "bake" mistakes!"

Lynn Sr. and Lincoln laughed hard at that one.

After a little, Lynn Sr. stopped laughing before Lincoln did and occasionally examined his only son, who was still laughing. He smiled as he kept his eyes on the road. It was great that Lincoln was still the lovable kid he was when he was eleven. The only difference really was how tall he had gotten. Lincoln still wasn't as tall as him, but he reached up to his chin now, where before, when he was a kid, he was just barely above his waist. The only question Lynn Sr. had about his son now was… why did he forgive him so easily? The obvious answer to him was that Lincoln was still somewhat mad at him. Which is why Lynn Sr. took the day off work in the first place. He want to reconnect with his son, and see what's going on in his head.

"Nice one, Dad. I have to admit… That pun was almost as good as one of Luan's", Lincoln jokingly stated.

"Heh, funny thing is... Luan only recently started to make puns again", Lynn Sr. said.

"Really?"

"Yeah… She stopped a few years after you disappeared. Just like how everyone else stopped doing their favorite things."

"Oh… I didn't think it was that bad while I was gone."

"It really was, Lincoln. I never saw the house so quiet and depressing before. Heck, even some of our neighbors came by to check on us just to make sure we were okay. Even Mr. Grouse."

"Mr. Grouse came over once to check on us?"

"Yeah. It was nice to see him worried about us."

"How is he? I didn't get the chance to go say hi to him yet. Everyone at home keeps me occupied all day", Lincoln asked, with a touch of fear in his voice.

"I met up with him a few weeks ago for lunch. He's still as tough as ever. Minus the yelling though. He's a lot more mellow nowadays."

Lincoln sighed in relief at the news that Mr. Grouse was still around. He turned back to his dad with a questioned look.

"You hang out with Mr. Grouse?"

Lynn Sr. laughed at that. He did think it was funny that he hung out with Mr. Grouse after all.

"Occasionally. He needs someone to check on him every now and then. Because of that, his daughter and her family moved somewhere nearby to keep an eye on him. They asked us to check on him for them when they don't have the time. I usually am the one to keep Mr. Grouse company. You should go over and say hi to him, Lincoln! He really misses your company."

"I will. Definitely… Does he know about what happened to me, Dad?"

"Heheh. Of course he does. I had to tell him. It was just weird how our only son disappeared. He was just as mad as everyone else when he found out. It's alright though. Over the years - Oh! We're here!"

Lincoln turned away from Lynn Sr. and saw that they were pulling into the parking lot of the familiar supermarket.

"Whoa. This place has not changed a bit", Lincoln said.

"Haha, I guess so! It doesn't really need to change though. There's not much competition around here."

After they parked the car, Lynn Sr. and Lincoln walked inside the supermarket. Lynn Sr. chuckled as he watched Lincoln look around in wonder. He really couldn't believe that the supermarket looked exactly the same.

"Let's head over to the meat aisle, Lincoln!", Lynn Sr. said.

"Alright, Dad. Meat, huh? What are you planning to cook by the way?", Lincoln asked.

"I'm cooking beef and cheddar casserole!"

"Beef and cheddar casserole? Have you cooked that before?"

Lynn Sr. chuckled nervously.

"It's alright! I'm sure that with enough time and effort, I'll get it right eventually!"

"... Well, okay. If you don't mind though, I'll give you some help."

"You can cook too, Lincoln?"

"I already knew how to cook a little before. But I have to admit: I learned a lot more about it at boot camp."

"Really? That's great! I give you permission to help me, Lincoln!"

"Hahah, I'm looking forward to it. Now… What do we need to get?"

Lynn Sr. and Lincoln looked over to the meats in the meat aisle they eventually reached during their conversation.

"Well for the beef… I'm thinking of just getting regular ol' ground beef. It tastes good and it's inexpensive. Plus it's the ground beef with the most flavor", Lynn Sr. stated.

"Hmm… we can cut the ground sirloin out of the deal. It's a little out of our price range, I'm guessing?", Lincoln asked.

Lynn Sr. nodded, answering Lincoln's question.

"I think we could also go for the ground chuck. It's not as flavorful as regular ground beef, but it is less fatty", Lincoln continued.

"Yeah… or, if I remember correctly, we could use ground round. The recipe I pulled from online says that ground round is the best ground beef to cook with vegetables", Lynn Sr. wondered out loud.

"As true as that is, ground round doesn't have the same beefy flavor that the other ground beefs have. I say we buy ground chuck. It's the perfect in between."

"But we shouldn't settle for what's average and all around. We should go for the best one we can get! And regular ground beef is the best one! It's much more beefy than the other ground beefs, so we should buy that one instead."

"Sometimes the best thing is the most compromising thing, Dad! And ground chuck is the perfect compromiser. It's not that fatty and the beef flavor is still there!"

"Yeah, but the regular ground beef is cheaper. We're hitting two birds with one stone here: low cost and amazing taste."

The two stood their ground as they debated with each other back and forth about which was the perfect ground beef to buy for the beef and cheddar casserole.

* * *

"I can't believe we argued about ground beef in the supermarket for almost an hour, Dad", Lincoln said with a chuckle.

"I'll agree with you there, son. We had a lot of "beef" with each other over that topic, huh?", Lynn Sr. joked.

Lincoln laughed. Right now, they were on their way home to drop off the groceries and continue their day.

"After we drop everything off, what's next on the list?"

"We're going to sit on the porch and talk."

"Oh! We're not going to go anywhere else today?"

"Nope! Well… the list had a lot of ideas and places we could have done or gone to… but I didn't know if you were willing to go skydiving or something."

"Uhhh… Nah, I think I'm good, Dad. I'm glad you didn't make me do anything crazy honestly. I've had enough crazy in my life."

Lynn Sr. laughed a little at that. It got quiet again in the van, but this time, it was a pleasant quiet. Lynn Sr. noticed Lincoln taking out his phone.

"Mind if I text someone real quick, Dad?"

"Go ahead, Lincoln! You don't even have to ask."

Lincoln smiled and started to type something up on his phone.

"If you don't mind me asking… Who are you texting?"

"I'm texting Luan. I want her to know that I'm thinking of her."

"Aw, that's nice of you, son."

Lincoln chuckled in embarrassment. Lynn Sr. soon heard the sound of a text message being sent. Silence filled the air once again as Lynn Sr. focused on driving and Lincoln waited for Luan's reply. If she decided to reply back at all.

 ***BEEP***

Her reply was almost instant. Lincoln checked out her text message and immediately grinned.

"What's that smile about, Lincoln?", Lynn Sr. jokingly said.

"Nothing, Dad. Nothing at all", Lincoln stated.

"Didn't seem like nothing. Did she make a pun again or something?"

"Something like that."

"Hahaha! Knowing her, it was probably an awesome joke."

"She does always seem to come up with the best ones on the spot."

Lynn Sr.'s face turned into that of a melancholy one.

"Yeah. She does, doesn't she? … *sigh* I miss being able to talk to Luan, Lincoln."

Lincoln directed his attention to his dad.

"I miss being able to talk to my children. I'm talking a little bit more with Lori and Leni these days. Luna and Lynn don't ignore me anymore. And Lisa and Lily look more comfortable around me. But Luan, Lucy, Lola, and Lana still have some grudge against me. I understand that they're mad at me because of what happened to you… But you're back home now. Isn't it time to move on, don't you think, Lincoln?"

Lincoln looked at Lynn Sr. with a straight face. It was so straight that Lynn Sr. couldn't tell what Lincoln was thinking. He kept his focus on the road, but was prepared to listen to whatever Lincoln was going to say.

"Well… Things take time, Dad. Sure I'm back now, but keep in mind, I was gone for eight years. It'll take a while for them to forgive you."

"Then… How come you forgave me, Lincoln? If anyone should be mad at me, it should be you. But… you weren't mad at me. Heck, when you got back home, you even hugged me. I still don't understand why."

A small and somewhat nostalgic smile formed on Lincoln's face.

"Hm… Honestly, sometimes I don't understand why I forgave you, Dad. But I think it all boils down to the fact that eventually… I realized it wasn't entirely your fault. Sure, maybe it was your fault I ended up there. But you didn't plan for me to be there for eight years. I can't blame you for something that was out of your hands. And besides…"

Lincoln smiled widely as he stared out the window of the van.

"I'm free now. I don't have time to be mad. I need to use my time now to make up for lost time. And the first thing I wanted to do to make up for lost time is to move on from boot camp. To do that, I had to forgive you, Dad."

Lynn Sr. smiled. He felt a small tear start to form in his eyes.

"Thanks, son."

"No prob, Dad. Looks like we're finally home!"

Lynn Sr. parked the car on the driveway of the house. They proceeded to carry in the groceries.

"We'll cook later a bit later. I'm thinking we'll start around eleven. It's still ten, and the beef and cheddar casserole takes about an hour to cook. Everyone gets back home around noon, so we've got some time to relax. Let's put away the ingredients for now."

"Alright, Dad. Sounds good."

After they put the groceries in the fridge, Lynn Sr. and Lincoln went out to the porch and took a seat there. Leni and Luan didn't notice them coming home, evident by the fact that no one greeted them when they entered the house. Leni was probably sleeping, and Luan was probably working on her routine for her job later at night.

Before Lynn Sr. or Lincoln were able to say anything, Lincoln's phone made a sound that indicated that he had received a text message. He checked it to see that the message was from Lori. She sent him a picture of herself smiling with a blush.

The caption read, _'I miss you, Linky~ I can't wait to see you~ 3'_.

Lincoln smiled with a blush.

He sent her a quick message.

' _I miss you too, Lori! I'd send you a pic too, but Dad's right next to me! Can't wait to see you too 3'_

Lynn Sr. smirked.

"Don't tell me you got yourself a girlfriend?"

Lincoln almost threw his phone behind him in shock.

"W-W-WHAT?! N-No! I don't have a girlfriend, Dad! I barely got back home. No one knows me anymore."

"Then what's with the sudden flushed face?"

Lincoln blushed even more out of embarrassment.

"You do have a girlfriend, don't you?", Lynn Sr. asked.

"... Yeah…"

Lynn Sr. laughed and slapped his knee a little.

"I can't believe it. You barely got back home and you already found yourself a girlfriend. Reminds me of the first time I met your mom."

"Dad, please…"

"It felt like just yesterday your mom bumped into me during her job as a crossing guard. As soon as our eyes met, it was love at first sight. We dated for about a year before we finally decided to make our love even deeper. The first time I saw your mom strip herself down to nothing, I swore I-"

"DAD! STOP! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANYMORE!"

Lynn Sr. laughed out loud at this. His son was just too easy to tease.

"Sorry, sorry, Lincoln. Couldn't help myself. I am happy you got yourself a girlfriend though. How did you meet her?"

Sweat dripped down Lincoln's face. He had to come up with something fast.

"Um… I… er…"

"Wait! I got it!", Lynn Sr. suddenly said.

"W-What?"

"Lori, right?"

"WHAT!?"

"Lori! She introduced you to someone, right? She's all about love and stuff, right? She used to always go on and on about that Bobby guy."

Lincoln mentally sighed with relief. If his dad found out about their relationship…

Lincoln shook his head, reorganizing himself.

"Y-Yeah, Dad. Lori introduced me to one of her friends. She seemed really nice, and she thought I was nice, so we decided to try dating each other. So far, so good."

Lynn Sr. grinned widely.

"Hahah, wow! I can't believe you got a girlfriend. I keep forgetting you're not a kid anymore. You're a man now. Which means I have to make sure you know how to treat a lady."

"How to treat a lady?", Lincoln asked.

"Yep. If you don't know the rules, then you'll end up with a broken heart."

Fear filled Lincoln's thoughts.

"Wait! Really? If I don't know these rules… my girlfriend will break up with me?"

"For sure."

"Then... Please help me, Dad! I don't know the rules!"

"I got you, Lincoln. Don't worry. Now, listen closely, okay?"

Lincoln nodded, signalling to Lynn Sr. to continue.

"First: You have to respect her. If you can't respect her, then she won't respect you."

"Okay, so far, so good. I respect my girlfriend completely."

"Second: You have to pay attention to her. Women like it when they know you know every detail of what they say to you."

"Oh, that's easy. I have the author to rely on when it comes to continuity. I think I got the details down."

"Um… okay. Anyways… Third: Keep the spark alive. Don't let it die down because you've been together for a while."

"Sounds good. I can do that."

"Fourth: Give her some compliments. There's nothing wrong with giving your girlfriend some compliments every now and then to make them feel good."

"Noted."

"The fifth and final rule: Get her small gifts from time to time. It doesn't always have to be on a special day, like Valentine's. In fact, she'll appreciate it more if you give one to her on just some random day."

Lynn Sr. waited for Lincoln to confirm that he understood the rule like he did the other ones. However, Lynn Sr. noticed Lincoln was quiet all of the sudden. He turned to Lincoln to see that he was staring at the ground in terror.

"L-Lincoln? Are you okay?"

Lincoln turned to Lynn Sr. with lightning speed.

"Dad! H-How am I going to get gifts for my girlfriend if I don't have money!? She's going to break up with me because of this!"

Lynn Sr. almost gasped at the fear on Lincoln's face. He never saw someone looked as genuinely scared as Lincoln did at that moment. He knew he had to calm Lincoln down.

"Now, now, Lincoln. Don't worry! Um… don't you have money? I mean, you paid for all of our pizza when you came back!"

"Yeah… but all the money I had went towards the pizza!"

Lynn Sr. stared at Lincoln incredibly.

"You only had two-hundred dollars?"

Lincoln shyly nodded.

"Yeah… Boot camp didn't really give me much chances to get money. Over the eight years, I was only lucky enough to get two one-hundred dollar bills."

"Geez… Well, that's okay! I'll give you the money to pay for your girlfriend's gifts!"

Lincoln frowned at that idea.

"Then it wouldn't be from me, Dad. It would be from you…"

Lynn Sr. frowned too. He didn't know what to say. Lincoln was right. If he were in his position, he wouldn't want his father to loan him money either.

"Well… How about a job!", Lynn Sr. said suddenly.

Finally, the fearful look on Lincoln disappeared, and was replaced with a hopeful expression.

"A job! That's perfect! I can go get a job!"

Lynn Sr. shared Lincoln's enthusiasm.

"Yeah! A man like you needs to go out and work for your lady after all, right?"

"Right! But wait… I can't work everyday. I need to make sure Leni stays okay."

"Ahhh… Yeah, that's true. She's only been more active lately because you came back."

"Yeah…"

"Well, you don't have to work everyday! You can just work some days. And you don't have to work the mornings. You can just work in the afternoon or evening."

"But where could I find a place that flexible?"

"Hm… Well… only one way to find out, right?"

"Go look around?"

"Exactly."

Lincoln sighed. The fear that he held for a little had completely dispersed. Now he had something new to do; and that was to find a job.

"Alright, Dad. I'll look around Royal Woods for something tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan, Lincoln. And what'll you do about Leni?"

"I'll talk about it with her later tonight. I'm sure she'll understand."

"I'm sure she will too."

"... Thanks for this, Dad. This hangout of ours was fun."

Lynn Sr. put his hand on Lincoln's shoulder.

"No… Thank you, Lincoln. Thank you for forgiving me. Words can't express how grateful I am that you're trying to move on and bring us all back together again."

Lincoln shrugged with a smile.

"It's what I do, Dad."

Lynn Sr. rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry about taking the first half of your day today, Lincoln. I wanted to do more, but I didn't plan much after going grocery shopping. I didn't think I'd get this far, and the list had way too many crazy things for us to do, like go out and get lost in the woods! And besides... Knowing you... You probably made plans with Luan or Leni for the morning, huh?"

Lincoln waved it off.

"It's fine. I said I had fun today! And I'm pretty sure Leni understood why I wanted to hang out with you. As for Luan; She texted me saying that it was fine too. Of course she's disappointed that I couldn't hang out with her today, but she knows that next time, I'll hang out with her first, and that you and I needed closure."

Lynn Sr. smiled bashfully, which was followed by Lincoln placing his hand on his dad's shoulder this time.

"Don't worry. In time, you'll get your closure with Luan too."

"... Thanks, Lincoln. You really are the glue that keeps our family together. It's kind of funny, honestly."

"Well, what can I say? Family's got to "stick" together!"

Lynn Sr. and Lincoln laughed at the Luan-ish pun and shared a small hug.

"Next time, I'm not going to follow a list. I depended on it way too much. We should go fishing or something, huh, Lincoln? I feel like that's a very dad thing to do."

"That would be nice. Although… I think another author already made a chapter on that."

"What? A... chapter?"

Lincoln laughed.

"Nevermind, Dad. Let's go in and start cooking!"

Lynn Sr. smiled at Lincoln.

"Yeah! Let's get to it!"

* * *

Lincoln stood straight as he walked around Royal Woods, looking for a job in the middle of the hot afternoon. He spent about an hour looking around for a place that was hiring, but unfortunately, his efforts were in vain. Most of the places he had visited were not hiring, and most of the other places didn't meet his desired schedule. If he weren't used to being in this type of whether, he'd be dead tired after the first half hour.

It was already hard enough to get Leni to allow him to look for a job in the first place; Now he was just lost. Lincoln didn't think he'd be able to find a job today. Maybe he would have to turn to looking for one on the internet. He wanted to look for one in person so he could hopefully find a place near his house, but in retrospect, he could probably do that at home on the internet too.

Because Lincoln was walking around, he used this time to think, which would hopefully help him pass the time quickly as he looked for the next place of business.

Lincoln thought about how Leni had reacted the night before when he told her he wanted a job. She almost broke down in tears, thinking that he was going to leave her again. It took about an hour for him to finally calm her down and explain to her that he was only going to apply for a job that would allow him to work in the afternoons or evenings, so he would still be able to spend some time with her. Leni immediately cheered up after that.

He also thought about how the beef and cheddar casserole turned out pretty good. Everyone, including Lynn Sr. and Lincoln, were surprised at how good the dish had tasted. Lynn Sr. and Lincoln both agreed that it was probably because of them choosing to use both the ground chunk and the regular ground beef together. He recalled how after everyone had their fill of the casserole, they had thanked him and his dad with huge smiles; even though everyone showed their thanks to Lincoln by hugging him tightly in a group hug and showed their thanks to Lynn Sr. by opting washing the dishes themselves. Lincoln guessed that it'll still take a while for everyone to be comfortable around Dad to hug him willingly.

A sad look appeared on Lincoln's face when he thought about this morning. He wanted to hang out with Luan as promised, but Luan said that she decided to work on her gig the rest of the day for her job. Although Lincoln understood, he couldn't help but feel bad. He also noticed that Luan was acting a bit strange. When Lincoln approached her in the morning, he felt like she was a little weary of him, or something. He decided later, however, that it was probably just him. Whether it was Luan acting strange or Lincoln being paranoid though, he still wanted to hang out with Luan and make it up to her for skimping out on her and hanging out with his dad instead.

Eventually, Lincoln found himself in front of a diner. It seemed like a pretty quaint place. Nothing too special, and nothing too weird. It wasn't too big, and it wasn't too small. The walls were colored blue, with the edgings of the building being white. He looked up at the words on the sign that was in the shape of a hot dog, with red neon-lights outlining the hot dog-shaped sign.

"H.D's Diner, huh?"

Lincoln looked over to the window and noticed a help-wanted sign.

"Alright. This is promising. Maybe this place will have the schedule I want."

Lincoln entered the diner. As soon as he opened the door, a small bell at the top rang out, signalling his entrance.

"I'll be out there with you in a moment, sir!", a somewhat tired voice yelled out.

Lincoln walked up to the counter, while at the same time, looking at the insides of the diner. There were a bunch of tables and chairs; the amount you would usually see in a diner. It was funny how on the inside, it was just as normal as how the building looked on the outside. The diner was filled with a generous amount of people, yet it wasn't that loud in the diner. Because of the lack of volume, the diner had a very pleasant atmosphere.

Lincoln was still looking around when a feminine figure walked up to the counter, her eyes closed as she patted her hands together to get them as clean as she could. She placed her elbow on the counter and rested her hand on her face, looking down at the counter with a bored expression.

"Hello, welcome to H.D.'s Diner. May I take your order?", she said with a voice that sounded like she had to repeat that phrase all day.

Lincoln turned to the woman, not noticing her face.

"Oh! I'm not here for food. I'm here because of the help-wanted sign you have up front", Lincoln stated.

"Oh, really? Great! Finally, a change of pace today!"

The woman turned up to looked at Lincoln directly.

"I'll go and get you an applic-"

She stopped as soon as she set her eyes on Lincoln. Her eyes were wide as she looked him all over, from the top of his white hair, to the bottom of his shoes.

Lincoln felt a little weirded out that this random woman was just examining him. But that wasn't what weirded him out the most. The thing that weirded him out the most was that the woman seemed familiar to him somehow.

The woman was a bit shorter than him. Her dark black hair was long and puffed out a little, flowing from the top of her head to her back. Her skin was darker than his, but not too dark, and her eyes had a beautiful brown coloring that perfectly complimented her skin. She was wearing a purple jacket over what appeared to be the diner's uniform, which just seemed to be a white t-shirt that had a picture of a talking hot dog on it saying, "Hello", and a pair of grey jeans. What stood out the most in her appearance was the two buck teeth that stuck out of her mouth…

Suddenly, the woman ran from behind the counter and went up to Lincoln to examine him closer. Lincoln took this chance to examine her as well. Soon enough, because of them both examining each other, their eyes met. Lincoln was still a little perplexed as to why this woman seemed familiar to him. But the woman had already figured it out. Lincoln saw tears form at the sides of her eyes.

Lincoln noticed her hand raise up a little, indicating to him that she wanted to touch him. But she stopped before she could. It was like she was afraid that touching him would make him disappear right before her eyes. The two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

Finally she spoke.

"L-L-Lincoln? I-Is that… *sniff*...you?"

Lincoln's eyes widened as he finally connected the pieces together. He couldn't believe who it was. His confused look completely disappeared and total surprise took its place. It took a few moments before he finally spoke out to her.

...

...

...

"R-R-Ronnie Anne?"


	9. Ronnie Anne's Arc Part 1

**Hey! It's been awhile since I've done one of these author's note thingies. (It's been awhile in general…) Just a quick note. A guest named** _ **Terra**_ **requested I say when in the show's canon did Lincoln went to boot camp, as to see which episodes in the Loud House canon affect my fanfiction.**

 **Honestly, season one is the only one I've seen. I've barely seen any episodes from season two, and I've only seen the last clip of** _ **The Loudest Mission: Relative Chaos.**_

 **Maybe I'll reference stuff from season two every now and then, but since I haven't seen most of it, my fanfic will focus mostly on what happened in season one** _ **.**_

 **Anyways, back to the my story! Enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **-A Soft Yet Hard Shelled Taco Arc: Part 1-**_

*Flashback*

A bell rang out across Royal Woods, signaling the end of the school day. As soon as the bell rang, the children of Royal Woods began to walk home from school. A particular couple of kids decided to wait for a little until the sidewalk was somewhat empty before they started walking home.

Once the sidewalk cleared up, the kids, a boy, and a girl began to walk home side by side. The girl smiled at the boy with a raised eyebrow.

"Just you and me today, Lame-O?"

Lincoln chuckled.

"Yeah, I wanted to spend some time with just you, so I asked Clyde to leave you and me alone for today."

Ronnie Anne blushed a little.

"Y-You didn't have to do that, Lincoln."

"True... But I wanted to, Ronnie Anne", Lincoln said with a smile.

"W-Whatever."

Lincoln grinned after he noticed the bashful look on Ronnie Anne's face.

"Ahem… Anyways… Did you hear that your friend Liam got together with Tabby?", Ronnie Anne asked.

No reply.

"Lincoln?"

She turned to Lincoln to see that he was just staring blankly off into space. Upon closer inspection, Ronnie Anne noticed that his face had a pinch of sadness that could only be detected if you stared at him long enough. She decided to bring him back to reality.

"Hey, Lincoln!"

Ronnie Anne noticed Lincoln jump a little after she called out to him.

"O-Oh! Sorry, Ronnie Anne. What did you say?"

"I asked if you had heard about Liam and Tabby getting together."

A surprised look appeared on Lincoln's face.

"Really? No way!"

"Yeah! It's the talk of the school! I even saw them sitting next to each other acting all lovey-dovey during lunch today."

"Aw man. I was hanging out with my little sisters during lunch time. That would have been nice to see."

Ronnie Anne looked at Lincoln with a questioned look. She wanted to ask why he was hanging out with his sisters instead of his usual friends at lunch, but…

Ronnie Anne twiddled her thumbs.

She had something else she wanted to ask Lincoln first.

"Um… Uh… *groan* Hey, Lincoln?"

"What's up?"

Ronnie Anne shyly looked at Lincoln. Although she was frowning, Lincoln could tell she wasn't angry at him, or anything.

"I-I've been wondering… Do you ever get mad that I never do anything lovey-dovey with you in public?"

"Mad? Why would I get mad?"

Ronnie Anne put her hands in her jacket's pockets.

"I don't know… I mean… I guess I've been thinking that I haven't been that great of a girlfriend to you."

Lincoln gasped with shock.

"That's crazy! You've been the best girlfriend a boy could have!"

"... Really?", Ronnie Anne asked.

Lincoln softly grasped Ronnie Anne's closest arm to him and pulled her hand out of her pockets. He held it with care and love.

"Really. I have a lot of fun when I'm with you. Besides, I already know you're not into the whole public displays of love thing. And I'm okay with that. I like you just the way you are."

Ronnie Anne's face turned a tomato red. She immediately pulled her hand away from Lincoln's loving grasp and punched his arm as hard as she could.

"OW! Ronnie Anne!"

Ronnie Anne puffed her cheeks, with a blush still apparent on her face.

"Well… that's good to know then. Thanks, Linc."

Lincoln rubbed the spot on his arm that Ronnie Anne punched. Nonetheless, he smiled at Ronnie Anne.

"No problem. It's what I do."

"Speaking of what you do, what's up with you hanging out with your little sisters today instead of your usual group?"

Lincoln sighed as if he had a lot to talk about with her.

"Well, it's kind of a long story. And it's one of the reasons why I wanted to be alone with you today."

"Spit it out then, Lame-O. Can't be that serious, right?"

Lincoln didn't respond to Ronnie Anne's question, much to her dismay. He awkwardly scratched his head.

"The reason why I hung out with my sisters today is mainly that they wanted to spend all the time they could with me."

"But why? Don't beat around the bush, Lincoln."

"I'm… I'm… *sigh* … I'm going to boot camp in a few days, and I'll be stuck there for about a week, according to Dad."

Ronnie Anne's face froze in shock.

"B-Boot camp? You? No way. I can't believe that. You're not the type of guy who causes enough trouble to even be sent to detention, much less boot camp."

Lincoln chuckled a little at Ronnie Anne's comment.

"Yeah, I have to agree with you there. But I really am being sent there."

"Why? What did you do that was so bad that you have to go to boot camp for a week!?"

"I broke… my dad's special plate."

"..."

"..."

Ronnie Anne stared at Lincoln in disbelief with her mouth agape. The silence was uncomfortable enough for Lincoln to start to feel anxious.

"Uh… Ronnie Anne?"

"... You're being sent to boot camp… over a plate?"

"Y-Yeah?"

Ronnie Anne's face morphed into a glare.

"You're being sent to boot camp over a freakin' _plate_! That's the most stupid reason I've ever heard!"

Another light-hearted chuckle left Lincoln's mouth.

"Hehe… Yeah, I know."

Silence. All Ronnie Anne could do was feel anger. It was so apparent that Lincoln was able to feel the anger radiating off of her.

"R-Ronnie Anne? Are you okay?", Lincoln asked worriedly.

Ronnie Anne stayed quiet.

"R-Ronni-"

Lincoln felt his collar tug upwards.

Ronnie Anne held Lincoln closer to her face and glared into his eyes.

"Tell your dad that you won't go", Ronnie Anne whispered angrily.

"W-What?"

"Tell your dad that you won't go to boot camp over something as stupid as breaking a plate!"

Lincoln flinched at Ronnie Anne's raised tone of voice.

"B-But… I can't just say no to Dad… He's in charge-"

Ronnie Anne shook Lincoln angrily, albeit not too rough.

"Lincoln! Listen to yourself! You're going to let your dad send you to boot camp! _Boot camp!_ It's not fair! You wouldn't survive a day in boot camp!"

An offended look appeared on Lincoln's face as he pushed himself off of Ronnie Anne. Lincoln raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"Wait. What do you mean I wouldn't survive a day in boot camp?!"

Ronnie Anne cocked an eyebrow.

"Come on, Lincoln. You know and I both know that you don't really look like the toughest tool in the shed."

"Hey! I'll have you know that Lynn's been making me work out a little more lately."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! And you know what? I think I could survive boot camp! How different can it be from living at home with a bunch of crazy sisters, right?"

An annoyed look appeared on Ronnie Anne's face.

"Not that I have experience or anything, but I'm pretty sure you living at home with your family is _nothing_ compared to boot camp."

"Please, Ronnie Anne. I'm sure you're just exaggerating. If boot camp really was _that_ bad a place, they wouldn't let people send their kids off there. If anything, I think going to boot camp might make me a more awesome kid. Maybe I'll even get stronger than Lynn!"

"That's not the point, Lincoln. The point here is that parents should only send their kids to boot camp when they're being unbearably disobedient. All you did was break a plate."

Lincoln stayed quiet, his own annoyed look appearing on his face.

"Don't tell me you actually want to go?", Ronnie Anne asked in astoundment.

"So what if I do? Maybe for once, I get to choose what I want to do! Everyone around keeps telling me to do this, do that. I'm sick of it, Ronnie Anne! Lola tells me to butt out and throws a plate at my face-"

"What?!", Ronnie Anne interrupted.

Lincoln continued his rant, not noticing Ronnie Anne's expression turning from annoyance to worry.

"Dad gets mad at me for breaking his _prized_ plate or whatever and is sending me to boot camp against my will!"

Lincoln locked his eyes with Ronnie Anne's.

"And now you're trying to make me disobey my dad! I'm tired! I'm tired of everyone pushing me around! I'm not some rug for all of you to walk over!"

Ronnie Anne's eyes flashed with sympathy.

"Lincoln, it's not like that. I'm not pushing you around. I just don't want you to get hurt. I know you, Lincoln. Even if you could survive boot camp, do you really want to go? Don't lie to yourself and try to make yourself all macho."

Lincoln grit his teeth.

"I can take care of myself, Ronnie Anne! And I'll prove it to you. I'll prove it to everyone. When I get back from boot camp a week from now, I'll even be able to hold my ground against you!"

Ronnie Anne's annoyed look returned in its entirety.

"Now you sound stupid, Lincoln."

"Oh, why? Because you think I'll never be better than you?"

"No, because you're actually going to let your dad send you to boot camp. You think that's what you want now. You think that a week at boot camp is enough to make you stronger than you are now."

"I don't think, I _know_."

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne glared at each other, both being able to feel each other's tension and stress. A heavy atmosphere surrounded the two as they stood their ground staring at one another. If the atmosphere got anymore heavier, cracks would have started to grow from the ground they stood on.

After a few moments, Ronnie Anne broke the silent staredown. She sighed and turned away from Lincoln indifferently.

"Well… I'm not going to wait a week for someone who just wants to be better than the people who care about him. And I'm definitely not going to boost my boyfriend's ego by fighting him in some pointless fight."

"What's that supposed to mean, Ronnie?", Lincoln asked, a bit of poison in what he said.

Ronnie Anne looked back at Lincoln with a stern look.

"It means I won't be your girlfriend when you come back, I'll just be your bully again. That way I won't feel bad when I beat you down."

Lincoln's glare immediately disappeared and was replaced with the most surprised and dejected face Ronnie Anne had ever seen.

"W-What?"

Ronnie Anne couldn't bear to look at Lincoln. She knew she couldn't take back what she said. She knew she broke his heart. But...

Ronnie Anne peeked a little at Lincoln, concealing most of her face from Lincoln. She didn't want him to see her so vulnerable, especially when he was the cause.

"You brought this on yourself, Lincoln. Hope you have fun at boot camp."

As soon as Ronnie Anne muttered those words, she ran away from Lincoln, not even allowing him to refute or try to apologize to her. She didn't want to hear it right now.

All she wanted to do was run.

Although all of her senses were screaming at her not to look back, she couldn't help but look over her shoulder to see what Lincoln's reaction was.

What she saw would haunt her and her nightmares for the next eight years.

She saw the face of a boy who looked as if he had lost everything, and who knew that it was all his fault.

*Flashback Ends*

The patrons and workers of the diner continued to go through the hustle and bustle of daily diner life, seemingly ignoring the two adults standing in the middle of the building staring at each other.

Lincoln was a little shocked at how much she'd changed. She was completely different from the ponytailed tomboy he knew so long ago. And yet… she still had those distinctive features that made her so recognizable to him. It was comforting for him to recognize those small details on Ronnie Anne.

It would have been more comforting for Lincoln if he didn't feel a little awkward seeing her again. The last time he saw her, she literally dumped him for being arrogant; something he regretted his entire time at boot camp.

Lincoln was about to break the ice himself when Ronnie Anne quickly wiped away the tears building up in her eyes. Her face immediately changed into a more calm one, although Lincoln was still able to detect a small trace of hope and worry in her eyes.

"*ahem* I-Is that *sniff* really you, Lincoln?", Ronnie Anne asked trying, and failing, to mask her staggered tone.

Lincoln smiled. Ronnie Anne was still as stubborn as he remembered. Even now she forced herself not to let her tears flow.

"Yeah. It's me. I'm… back, Ronnie Anne.", Lincoln said.

Silence surrounded the two again. Ronnie Anne held the top of her right hand with her left hand and sighed. This whole situation was tough for her too after all. Even as awkward as it was, however, Ronnie Anne couldn't help but look over the boy she dumped eight long years ago. She always thought that she hadn't changed as much in last eight years since she had kept her tomboy spirit and trademark purple colored jacket; even if she had to buy a bigger one.

But Lincoln, on the other hand, had changed a lot compared to his younger self. He looked a lot more mature, and he had this authoritative atmosphere around him that she couldn't explain. If that wasn't enough, Ronnie Anne had to admit something else to herself: Lincoln was, for lack of a better term, hot. He had totally grown into the type of man Ronnie Anne had always dreamed of. Cute, yet strong-looking at the same time. And it definitely looked as if Lincoln had a little bit more muscle on him than he did as a kid. Plus, Lincoln was a little bit taller than her. Yep. Definitely her type. And she hated herself for feeling this way. But she hated Lincoln even more for turning out so handsome.

Ronnie Anne couldn't hide the angry look gradually taking over her face. Lincoln noticed this immediately and backed up a little subconsciously.

"R-Ronnie Anne? Are you okay?"

Ronnie Anne was silent but moved towards Lincoln. Lincoln was about to take another step back when she grabbed his shirt. She looked behind her and to the kitchen behind the counter.

"I'm taking my break now!", she yelled.

"Okay, Ms. Santiago!", a female voice yelled out.

Ronnie Anne nodded and started to drag Lincoln with her somewhere.

"Ronnie, where are we going?"

"..."

Soon, Ronnie Anne and Lincoln reached a door that led to the back of the diner and went out it. She effectively threw Lincoln away from her grasp. Lincoln stumbled a little before standing still and straightening the spot on his shirt that Ronnie Anne had grabbed, an annoyed look on his face as he did so. He looked towards Ronnie Anne to see that she had finished locking the door to the diner.

"Ronnie Anne! Will you tell me why we're back here?"

Once again, Ronnie Anne was silent. Lincoln waited for a little for Ronnie Anne to do something, but it seemed to him that she decided to just freeze in place; she was eerily motionless, and it looked like she had her mind occupied at the moment.

Lincoln sighed deeply and began to look around the small area. It was small mostly because the walled up part of the diner that was the kitchen took most of the space, and the rest of the space was fenced in by the chain link fence separating the world from the back of the diner. It was big enough to be able to walk around however freely though. The chain link fence also had a gate locked up tight with a shackled combination lock, seemingly there as to have easier access to the dumpster behind the fence a small distance away.

Lincoln noticed some trash cans at the corner of the fence, a hose right next to the door he had just gone through with Ronnie Anne, and a small garden sitting against the walled up part that divided the kitchen from the back of the diner. The small garden, in particular, caught Lincoln's attention. He moved towards it and admired the small purple flowers growing. They looked so delicate and peaceful. There were so many of them too that Lincoln couldn't help but feel enchanted by the purple color coming off of the small garden.

Lincoln turned a little towards Ronnie Anne.

"Ronnie Anne, this garden is pretty, well, pretty! What type of flowers are-"

Lincoln only had seconds to stop an object from colliding with his face. If he had failed to stop it with his hand, it would have definitely given him a black eye. But whatever was thrown at his face didn't phase him a bit when it hit his hand. His hand didn't even flinch when it forcibly stopped the unidentified object. Upon closer inspection, however, Lincoln noticed that it wasn't an object that was thrown at him at high speed at all; it was a fist. Ronnie Anne's fist to be precise.

He felt Ronnie Anne struggle to get her fist free from Lincoln's grasp. Scared to offend her, Lincoln quickly let go of her hand.

"Ronnie! What the heck-"

Lincoln moved back quickly as Ronnie Anne threw another punch towards his stomach. Unfortunately, when Lincoln moved back, he felt his foot hit the front of the garden, indicating to him that he couldn't back up anymore. Ronnie Anne once again threw a punch at Lincoln, of which he dodged to the side to avoid. This time, however, Ronnie Anne predicted Lincoln's dodge and tried to kick towards Lincoln's legs to trip him over. Lincoln immediately jumped over Ronnie Anne's leg and backed off once again.

Soon, an unbalanced game of cat and mouse occurred between the two. Ronnie Anne was trying her best to hit Lincoln with one of her punches and kicks, and Lincoln was avoiding all of her assaults with ease, a worried look apparent on his face.

 **...**

A man in the diner was enjoying his lunch when he noticed that across the diner and out the window there were two adults running and jumping around each other. As soon as he noticed that, he motioned over a waitress.

"Excuse me, miss?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Uh.. there are people fighting, I think, at the back of your diner", the man said as he pointed them out.

The waitress turned to where the man was pointing at. She quickly assessed the situation and chuckled a little.

"Oh! You must be new here. That's just our manager. She's probably fighting back a hoodlum from sneaking around in our trash."

"Oh! Really?", the man asked astoundedly.

"Yes, sir!", the waitress replied genuinely.

The man smiled and felt himself be more at rest.

"That's good to hear then. Can I have a refill of coffee then, please?"

"Of course!"

 **...**

Lincoln could tell that Ronnie Anne was getting frustrated since she began to openly voice out a grunt every single time she tried to hit Lincoln with either a kick or a punch. He was starting to get worried about her.

"Okay, let's calm down, Ronnie Anne", Lincoln said, trying to reason with Ronnie Anne.

"Calm down? Calm down!? How can I calm down!?", Ronnie Anne yelled.

"Oh, just take some deep breaths and-"

"No! How can I calm down when you disappeared for eight years at a boot camp you were supposed to stay at for only a week!?"

Ronnie Anne tried to grab Lincoln with both of her hands, only to find her hands caught and interlocked by both of Lincoln's hands. He held her back in an attempt to talk to her face to face.

"Is that what this is about? Me leaving for over eight years without contacting you? If that's what it is, then let me explain-"

"I don't need an explanation from you! I can tell what you wanted to say those last eight years of leaving me alone with these feelings of guilt!"

Ronnie Anne pulled her hands away from Lincoln and tried to tackle him. Lincoln didn't want to dodge and let her fall to the ground, so he let her tackle him. Ronnie Anne felt a little less frustrated after being able to tackle Lincoln, but quickly grew even more frustrated when she realized that her tackle didn't even make Lincoln flinch.

"Ahhhrgh!", Ronnie Anne audibly groaned.

Ronnie Anne pushed herself off of Lincoln faster than Lincoln was expecting and aimed a kick towards his stomach. Lincoln reacted quickly by deflecting Ronnie Anne's kick with his left arm and grabbing her leg with his right.

"Ronnie Anne, come on! Let me talk to you!"

"I don't need to talk to you, Lincoln! I just want to beat you down like I said I would!"

"That was eight years ago! Can't you just move on from that?"

"Is that what you did, Lincoln!? Move on from me breaking up with you!?", Ronnie Anne angrily said.

As she was struggling to get her leg free from Lincoln's right hand, he saw a few tears start to fall out of her eyes.

"Was it so easy for you to forget about me and move on, Lincoln!?", Ronnie Anne continued, "Because I didn't! I've never been able to move on! You were always in the back of my mind. Every single day of the last eight years of my life was filled with pain and angst and… whatever! All because of your stupid face that day."

A melancholic expression appeared on Lincoln as he let go of Ronnie Anne's leg. She walked towards him and started to punch at his chest repeatedly. At first, she punched him with all of her strength. However, the intensity of her punches started to lessen as time when on. Instead, the amount of tears coming out of her eyes increased in volume. Soon, her punches became nonexistent as she laid her forehead against Lincoln's chest, hiding her face from him, and tightly gripping his shirt with both of her hands. She grit her teeth in an attempt to keep herself from sobbing out loud. Lincoln was able to feel her attempt since she would occasionally jump a little against his chest as she clenched her eyes shut. Lincoln could hear a sob trying to escape with every jump Ronnie Anne made.

Lincoln sighed.

"You're still as stubborn as ever, Ronnie."

"... S-Shut up, Lincoln."

Ronnie Anne felt Lincoln wrap his arms around her, bringing her into a tight hug, startling her a little. Once she knew that Lincoln wasn't planning on hurting her or anything, she relaxed into Lincoln's embrace, wrapping her own arms around Lincoln. Lincoln beamed when Ronnie Anne returned the hug. He began to rub his hands slowly up and down her back to help soothe her.

"It's okay to cry, Ronnie Anne. Don't force yourself not to. It isn't healthy after all", Lincoln said with a calm smile and closed eyes.

Ronnie Anne clenched her eyes even tighter but ultimately failed at keeping her tears from falling and her sobs from being audible.

"Why, *hiccup* Lincoln?... Why did *hiccup* you leave everyone for so long? You *hiccup* kept me waiting, you *hiccup* know? I was *hiccup* going to kick your ass."

Lincoln thought Ronnie Anne's little hiccups as she spoke her anger out at him were incredibly cute.

"Ronnie Anne... I didn't plan for it to go that way. It just… did", Lincoln answered.

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne stayed in that position for a little. It was hard for Ronnie Anne to remove herself from Lincoln's grasp. His chest was a lot more strong and relaxing than she had remembered, his shoulder was a comfortable place to lay her head on, and his attentive and firm grasp on her made her feel completely and utterly safe.

Ronnie Anne hugged Lincoln tighter. She felt at peace for the first time in forever. It was funny how after all these years of guilt and self-agony, all she needed to make herself feel better was a hug. Before long, however, Ronnie Anne stepped a small distance away from Lincoln and began to make herself look presentable. Ronnie Anne sniffed one last time before looking at Lincoln. Although her eyes were, in a way, frowning, they were accompanied by a small smile.

"My break's about to be over, so we can't talk in detail yet", Ronnie Anne said.

She walked over to the steps leading into the door of the diner and picked up a piece of paper she left on the steps before she started the fight. She walked back over to Lincoln and held the paper towards him. Lincoln took the paper and saw that it was the application to work at the diner.

"Fill that out and give it to me later. Do you have a resume on you?"

"Yeah, Dad and Lori helped me out with it", Lincoln said as he pulled out another piece of paper from the inside of his shirt, "There's not much on it though. I didn't really get to do anything… since… well, you know."

"I do know. Don't worry though, Linc. I'll be the judge of that."

Lincoln nodded and held both papers close to him.

"Ronnie Anne, I-"

Ronnie Anne held her hand out to stop him from talking. Lincoln felt exasperated from Ronnie Anne interrupting him so much in one day but stayed quiet.

"Lincoln… We'll talk more when I have the time. Today's Saturday, right? That means my shift ends earlier today. Come back around six o'clock with your papers. I'll take them and review them tomorrow. Right now, I gotta get back to-"

 ***BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!***

Ronnie Anne looked at her watch and pressed a button, silencing the watch's timer.

"Well, there you go. I gotta go back in and work my shift. Go do those papers and I'll see you at six, okay, Lincoln?"

"O-Okay, Ronnie Anne."

Ronnie Anne's frowned eyes softened and her smile grew warmer. She grinned at Lincoln before unlocking the diner back door and running back inside the diner.

Lincoln decided to jump the fence since he didn't want to awkwardly follow Ronnie Anne into the diner. As he began to climb the fence, however, he heard the backdoor to the diner open. He turned and saw Ronnie Anne again.

"By the way! Those flowers in the garden are bellflowers. When I searched them online, they looked... cute. So I planted some in the garden. Plus… purple's a cool color, right?"

Lincoln smiled.

"Yeah. Purple is a cool color."

* * *

On the couch in the living room of the Loud House was a resting Lola, enjoying the rest of her day by watching television. She sighed with content as she sipped some of the pink lemonade she was holding in her hand. Even though she disliked the notion that she was less prim and proper than she was when she was a kid, a fact proven by her wearing a pink tank top with yellow hems and gray slacks at the moment, she loved to spoil herself rotten from time to time. It was funny how she was able to get the television to herself in the first place anyway, what with her various sisters going about the house doing whatever daily thing they did. Of course, she took this chance to let loose and just relax. Though she could have sworn she heard Lynn yell at Lana for something about a wrench in the wrong place.

Lola shrugged, placed her drink on the table in front of the couch, and laid back.

"Ah! This is just… perfect!~", Lola said to herself with a satisfied look on her face.

The only thing that would make this moment even more perfect is if a certain white-haired brother was here to spend time with-

 ***Click! Creeeak- Wumpth!***

Lola turned towards the direction of the front door and saw Lincoln enter through it. She could feel her smile get wider as soon as her eyes made contact with him. Lola immediately jumped off the sofa, rushed over to Lincoln, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Lincoln was a little surprised at the sudden invasion of personal space, so he rightfully flinched. He calmed down once he realized it was just Lola.

"Welcome home, Linky!", Lola said happily.

Lincoln smiled at his cute little princess.

"I'm back, Lola. What are you up- Whoa!"

Lola cocked an eyebrow at Lincoln and got herself off of him.

"What?"

"You're… not wearing a dress?"

Lola scoffed jokingly.

"Lincoln, Lincoln. Even a perfect specimen of a lady like me needs their relaxation time. I can't always wear a dress."

Lincoln laughed at this, thinking about how the younger version of Lola would never want to take off her pink dress. He executed a mocking bow to Lola.

"My apologies, your highness."

Lola laughed and patted Lincoln's head.

"At ease, my faithful servant. So, what happened with you today, Lincoln? Did you find a job?"

Lincoln chuckled and stood straight up. Lola felt a little bit at a loss for words when Lincoln stood his full height. He was much taller than her now, so when he stood up so suddenly, Lola felt her heart flutter a little.

"Well, I found a job that was hiring. I just got to fill out this application I got from the place. When I'm done, I have to give it and the resume to Ronnie Anne for her to examine, I think."

Lola gaped at Lincoln.

"You met Ronnie Anne again? Wow. Small world, huh?"

"Hahaha, yeah. It was weird seeing her again after all these years."

"I'd say. How is she? For some reason, she never came by to check if you were home the last eight years. It was mostly just Clyde and your other friends. Sometimes it'd be Carol too. But I never saw Ronnie Anne", Lola wondered out loud.

Lincoln's expression slightly darkened at Lola's statement. He knew exactly why Ronnie Anne never came by.

"Well… she and I didn't get to talk that much. She was still working. I'm going to meet up with her later today though; probably around six. In the meantime, I'll probably finish filling out this application."

Lincoln was about to walk up to Lori's and Leni's room when he felt a tug at his shirt. He looked to the source of the tug to see Lola holding onto his shirt.

"Now wait a minute, Lincoln. You have until six to do that, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's about two-thirty right now. If you manage to finish the application before that… Would you like to hang out with me?"

Lincoln grinned and gave Lola a thumbs up.

"Of course, Lola! I just gotta finish this application real quick."

"O-Okay! I'll be waiting down here then, okay, Linky?", Lola states as she lets go of Lincoln's shirt.

"Alright! I'll be right back."

"...Thanks, Lincoln."

Lincoln patted Lola's head.

"It's no problem at all."

Lola smiled and hugged Lincoln tightly, which he gratefully returned to her. Soon, Lola let go of Lincoln and walked back over to the couch to enjoy her show. Lincoln looked at Lola happily for a little before going on his way up the stairs. When he reached the top, he noticed Luan about to go into her room.

"Hey, Luan! I'm home!"

Lincoln notice Luan jump a little before she turned to smile at Lincoln.

"H-Hey, Lincoln! Welcome back!"

Lincoln looked at Luan questioningly. He noticed that a couple of sweat drops had started to form on her forehead. She was obviously nervous about something that had to do with him.

"What's up, Luan? You look… stressed out about something", Lincoln asked worriedly.

"M-Me?! Stressed out?! Nah, what? I'm fine, Lincoln."

"Are you sure? You could always tell me anything, you know?"

Luan sighed and ruffled Lincoln's hair affectionately. Lincoln blushed a little, embarrassed at being treated like a little kid again. But he enjoyed it nonetheless.

"I know that, you goofball. I… guess I'm just tired", Luan said as she continued to ruffle up Lincoln's hair as a form of stress relief.

"Is it because of your job as a comedian at that 'rich person's club' place?", Lincoln asked.

"Rich person's…? O-Oh! Yeah! That's exactly it, Lincoln! I think I've been joking myself out; making all these quips and skits can get real tiring sometimes", Luan stated quickly, removing her hand from Lincoln's head.

"I can't imagine how comedians can keep making new jokes and stuff for their audience. Makes me remember how amazing a person you are, Luan."

Luan blushed at Lincoln's comment and shyly held her arm.

"W-Wow. Thanks, Lincoln. That's… really nice of you to say."

"It's the truth, Luan", Lincoln said with a smile, "I really enjoy all of your puns and jokes. It's crazy how you can come up with them constantly. I'm more surprised at how you're not a superstar yet. I'd thought you'd be in movies now with how funny you- mmph!"

Lincoln's world was suddenly thrust into darkness after his face was covered by something soft. He tried to pull it off his face but noticed that something was pushing it harder and harder into his face. Lincoln began to struggle in fear a little before he heard Luan laugh at something.

"Calm down, Lincoln! I'm just giving you a "bear hug". Haha! Get it?"

If Lincoln could see, he would have noticed a bright red-faced Luan.

Lincoln was confused for a little before he started to feel the soft object on his face. After feeling it out for a little, he confirmed to himself that it was a stuffed bear that Luan had pulled out of nowhere. He found the spot where Luan's hands were and held them softly. Luan felt her heart flutter a bit.

"You still got it, Luan. I'd laugh, but it's kind of getting hard to breathe. Can you… you know-", Lincoln said muffled.

"O-Oh! Hahaha, sorry, Lincoln", Luan said as she removed the stuffed bear off of Lincoln's face. She then turned away from Lincoln to hide her blushed face.

Lincoln took in a breath of air and grinned at Luan.

"Phew! Thanks, Luan. Nice pun by the way."

Luan jokingly shrugged.

"Well, Lincoln, I am a comedian after all-"

Lincoln suddenly grabbed Luan and pulled her into a tight and warm hug from behind, making her blush even more heavily.

"I'd prefer a real hug next time though, wouldn't you?", Lincoln whispered into Luan's ear.

She wanted to swoon at the sound of Lincoln's voice hitting her ears. His voice made her whole body vibrate with passion and love. However, at the same time, she started to sweat nervously about something. Luan pushed herself away from Lincoln and backed away from Lincoln slowly.

"Y-Yeah, I agree with you, Lincoln. Sorry, I gotta' go… do something. Bye!"

"W-Wait, Luan-!"

Luan ran into her room and quickly shut the door on Lincoln. A confused and saddened Lincoln stood frozen in place for a little. Eventually, he sighed and moved away from Luna's and Luan's room and entered Lori's and Leni's room. He was immediately brought out of his depressed state when he was tackled into a hug by an overjoyed Leni.

"Linky~! Welcome home! Are you, like, back to hang out with me?"

"Hehe, I'm back, Leni. Sorry, I have to finish this application for a job, and I already promised Lola that I'd hang out with her earlier."

"Aww…", Leni said with a frown.

Lincoln returned Leni's hug, making Leni smile happily.

"I'll hang out with you later today, okay? Maybe we'll do something tonight before we go to sleep."

Leni smiled widely at Lincoln.

"Okie dokie! In the meantime, I'll totes help you with your application!"

Lincoln chuckled nervously at Leni's declaration.

"Uhh, it's okay, Leni. I could handle it. You could just hang out with me or-"

Leni grabbed Lincoln's application and ran over to her desk, making Lincoln chase after her, telling her not to write anything on the application yet.

…

Lola covered her mouth as she yawned. It had been an hour since Lincoln had arrived home. She was sitting with Lana and Lily, who decided to stop what they were doing and start watching television, stopping her personal relaxation time. They were watching a show that they all could agree on. As much as Lola enjoyed her sisters and their company, especially since they were all pretty distant for eight years, aside from her and Lana, she wanted to go hang out with Lincoln already. She was getting a little bit bored waiting for him, and because of that, the show became somewhat boring to her as well.

Suddenly, her bored state was broken by the sounds of someone going down the stairs. She turned towards to see Lincoln all ruffled up. He sighed when he reached the end of the stairs. Lola jumped off of the couch and ran over to Lincoln. The other sisters noticed this and watched Lola as she ran over to Lincoln. As soon as they set their eyes on Lincoln, they also moved from their positions to go over to him.

"Hey, Linc- ", Lola started before she was interrupted by her sisters coming up to greet Lincoln as well.

"Hey, Lincoln! Hey, Linc!", both Lana and Lily said at the same time.

Lincoln turned to the girls and smiled. They noticed that he looked a little weary.

"Hey girls. What are you up to?"

"We were just watching television", Lola answered, "What happened to you, Lincoln?"

Lincoln chuckled and started to tend to his ruffled up hair, setting it down as much as he could. His trademark tuft of hair, however, stood standing.

"Oh, nothing really. Leni tried to write some stuff on my application for the last hour though. It was tiring trying to make her not write anything weird. But I appreciated her company."

"Ahhh, okay. Did you get to finish your application then, Lincoln?", Lana asked.

"Oh yeah, definitely. I managed to somehow", Lincoln said.

"Does that mean you're free now, Lincoln?", Lily asked.

Lola couldn't help but get a little jealous at Lily. Lincoln was probably going to choose her over Lily since Lily was the youngest of the bunch. Lola sighed inwardly. She shouldn't get jealous like that. It made sense that Lincoln would choose Lily after all. She didn't even get to know him.

As Lola bashed herself inside her head for being jealous at a nine-year-old, Lincoln patted Lily's head.

"Sorry, Lily. I promised that I'd hang out with Lola today."

Hearing Lincoln say this to Lily brought Lola's attention back to him, and it made her blush a little. She didn't expect Lincoln to deny Lily's request. Now she was scared of how Lily might-

"Aw, okay. Next time though, okay?"

"Haha, of course, Lily. next time."

Lana laughed and put her hand on Lily's shoulder, feeling the same as Lily did when Lincoln said he wasn't free; not sad but a little disappointed.

"Don't forget about me, Lincoln. I need some quality time with you too, you know?"

"I'd never forget you, Lana. Who else fixes everything up here in this house?"

As the trio laughed warmly with each other, Lola stood from the side with a delighted smile. She should have never doubted Lincoln. Why she thought Lincoln would break a promise she would never know.

Soon, Lana and Lily went off to do whatever they wanted, leaving Lincoln to walk over to Lola.

"Ready to hang out, Lola? I've got a few hours to hang out before heading out."

Lola beamed and held Lincoln's hand.

"I'm always ready to hang out with you, Linky."

Once, Lincoln held her hand back, Lola began to lead them to her room. Once they got inside, however, Lola started to feel a little anxious. Even though Lincoln was back now and even told her that she had nothing to blame herself for, she still felt that guilt crawling back up her thoughts every now and then.

The guilt of being the catalyst to Lincoln being sent to that dreaded boot camp.

Lola sighed and tried to push those thoughts away. It somewhat worked, as she could feel herself start to be a little relieved. It probably helped that Lincoln was sitting in front of her smiling though.

"So, what are we doing, Lola?"

Lola smiled and immediately opened up her closest to reveal a massive amount of clothing.

"I'm going to try on some dresses, Lincoln. And you're going to judge them for me.", Lola stated with a fantastical pose.

Lincoln clapped with a chuckle but was blushing a little out of embarrassment.

"I'm down to do this and all, Lola. But I don't know anything about fashion."

"Oh, Lincoln. You don't have to know fashion to realize the elegance and beauty of a fantastic dress. Although, having knowledge of fashion does help."

Lola grabbed a couple of clothes from her closest.

"All I need you to do is tell me how the dresses look to you. If you really have no idea what to judge, I'll tell you that the upcoming pageant's theme is 'Fairytales'."

Lincoln balled his right hand into a fist and softly bashed it in his left palm, signaling to Lola that he understood what he had to do now.

"Ohh okay, I think I got it, Lola."

Lola nodded happily and began to choose from her assortment of clothes. After a little, Lola had decided on a specific set of clothes. She set them to the side and began to- Wait a minute.

It was at that moment that Lola froze. Lincoln got understandably worried when he noticed that Lola had stopped moving after she chose her clothing.

"Lola? Are you okay?"

Lola's mind was preoccupied with a new dilemma; could she change in front of Lincoln? She realized that if she were a kid, she wouldn't have given it a second thought. It was normal for siblings to change in front of each other after all, especially in a big family like theirs. But her family was anything but normal at this point. Because Lincoln was gone for so long, it did feel as if he were a stranger. Even though Lola knew that Lincoln was her brother.

For the first time in her entire life, Lola felt insecure about her body. She wondered whether or not Lincoln would accept her body in all its bareness. She could have sworn there was a point in her life where Lincoln had seen her body bare before, but it was so long ago that the memory was kind of blurry. She knew that it was stupid of her to think that Lincoln would judge her body at all, but the last time she let someone see her almost naked body was their own mom.

And yet, Lola couldn't help but feel excited to be in this situation. Especially since she was in front of Lincoln. A deep blush spread across her face.

"Lola?"

Lincoln walked up to Lola after she didn't respond to him a few minutes earlier. Lola shyly looked at Lincoln, who didn't notice the blush on her face because he was too preoccupied with his worry for her.

"S-Sorry, Lincoln. Something just popped up in my head. Ready for the best show of your life?", Lola asked, passion buried underneath her words. A passion unnoticed by Lincoln.

Lincoln gave out a sigh of relief and smiled at Lola, unaware of what she was planning to do first before putting on her clothing.

"Ready, Lola."

Lola's blush and smile grew bigger and brighter. After Lincoln moved back to his sitting spot, Lola stood at the foot of her bed and gave out one more deep breath, before looking at Lincoln with a sultry, wanting gaze that she couldn't keep from appearing on her face. Lincoln felt his face heat up when Lola sent him that look in her eyes.

It was at this moment, Lincoln's world was blown. Lola began to slowly strip off her pieces of clothing she had on off in front of him. When Lola took off her sweatpants, Lincoln immediately put his hands up to his face to cover his view, a blush growing on his face. He probably wouldn't have made that big a deal about it if Lola didn't take it off so agonizingly slow.

"L-L-L-Lola! What are you doing? Why didn't you tell me to turn around?!"

Due to Lincoln's reaction, it was obvious to Lola that he saw her in a different light as well. She couldn't blame him or even herself. It was like she was giving a private showing to her… boyfriend.

Hearts appeared in Lola's eyes as she began to discover a hidden passion of hers. She found that stripping in front of Lincoln specifically made her go insane. It wasn't as if she felt like this when she changed in front of Lana after all. She thought she could feel a fire inside of her, burning intensively with passion and eagerness. She slowly placed the palm of her hand on her leg and started dragging it slowly up her leg in front of Lincoln. This made Lincoln's blush intensify.

Lola used her free hand to put a finger up to her lips in an 'innocent' fashion.

"Why, Linky~... I thought you wouldn't care if I changed in front of you. We are siblings, after all, right?"

Lincoln uncharacteristically and shyly started to rub his hands together nervously.

"W-Well, yeah! Y-You're right! B-But, y-you know… It's kind of-"

"Don't worry about it, Lincoln. I don't really mind if you watch me change~. In fact, I think I prefer if you watch me."

Lola stepped over to Lincoln and stood in front of him. For some reason, Lincoln felt completely timid when Lola stood over him. He noticed her smile had grown somewhat larger, and she was showing her teeth.

"I **don't** want you to look away at all, got it, Linky~? I want you to witness me in all of my beauty", Lola said with an incredibly commanding tone.

Lincoln felt like he had literally shrunk a little at her tone.

"U-Uh, b-but I-I-"

Lola interrupted Lincoln by taking off her pink tank top, this time even closer to Lincoln, and revealing her light pink bra. She was basically nude at this point, having only her undergarments on. Lincoln reacted by trying to cover his eyes with his hands in respect to Lola's privacy. However, Lola was not happy with that, shown by the fact that an astonishingly intimidating glare appeared on her face.

She grabbed one of Lincoln's hand and slowly pulled it away from his face, revealing her glare to him. Needless to say, Lincoln was rightfully terrified.

"I don't think you understood what I said, Linky~. I **want** you to look at me. I **want** you to take in my beauty. Don't you think I'm pretty, Lincoln?"

Lincoln gulped audibly. Lola paid no mind to it at all though.

"O-Of course I do, Lola. I think that you're… beautiful."

Lola smiled, although her eyes continued to glare at Lincoln. She was basically giving her trademark evil look to Lincoln, only this time as a pre-teen.

"How beautiful am I, Linky?"

"Uhhh…"

Lola moved even closer to Lincoln, making him fall a little onto his back. She leaned into him and placed her hand on his chest.

"How… beautiful am I, Lincoln?", Lola said as she trailed her finger up Lincoln's chest slowly.

At this point, sweat was beginning to form on Lincoln's head.

"U-Um… amazingly beautiful? L-Like, as beautiful as a million suns setting on the horizon…?", Lincoln stated nervously.

Lola chuckled at Lincoln's attempt at a compliment. It wasn't the worst one she'd ever heard. Honestly, it was cute coming from him. The blush on her face lessened in color and she backed off of Lincoln. Lola could see that he internally sighed in relief. She walked back towards her pile of clothes with a huge smile on her face.

"Sorry, Linky~. I couldn't resist. You're too easy to tease. Let's continue with my modeling, shall we?"

Lincoln still had a blush on his face, although it had softened as well. He smiled at Lola, signaling her to go ahead and start. Lola went ahead and started to search through her clothes to see which one was the perfect set for the theme.

* * *

Ronnie Anne sat at one of the tables in the diner that was facing away from the front door, idly waiting for Lincoln to come by. She was dressed casually; wearing a brown short-sleeved shirt with white stripes, her trademark purple jacket unzipped, and blue jeans. Her hair was also tied up into a cute ponytail. By her side was a nicely sized satchel. Ronnie Anne was picking up french fries and eating them thoughtlessly. It was about seven at night, the diner was mostly empty, and she still didn't see any sign of a white-haired boy.

Ronnie Anne didn't even notice a waitress walk by her before suddenly stopping and walking back to her table.

"Ms. Santiago? Why are you still here? Your shift ended an hour ago! Usually, you go home right after work's over for you", the waitress asked.

Ronnie Anne sighed and sipped her coffee from her white mug.

"I'm… waiting for someone, Mary."

Mary snickered a little, put her hand on her cheek, and held her elbow with her other hand.

"Are you waiting for a date, Ms. Santiago?"

Ronnie Anne immediately blushed and a frown appeared on her face.

"N-No! I'm not dating anyone! I-I'm just waiting for an old friend. Catch up on times, you know?"

"Catching up with an old flame, then?"

"..."

"I guess I hit the nail on the spot, huh?"

"S-Shouldn't you be working, Mary!?"

Mary laughed and skipped off, leaving a blushing Ronnie Anne to ponder about her thoughts.

' _O-Of course I'm only here waiting for Lincoln to talk with him. I'm not trying to get back with him or anything. I've moved on from him. I'm going to look for someone new and better than him! ...Right?…",_ Ronnie Anne thought.

Ronnie Anne shook her head, shaking her thoughts away. She decided that she was going to leave if Lincoln doesn't show up in ten minutes. She picked up her last french fry and put it in her mouth. She started to think about how the cook had improved on her cooking. The fry wasn't the best french fry she'd ever tasted, but it was a lot better than when she had started.

Ronnie Anne's thoughts were broken by the sound of a small bell ringing at the front door and the sound of Mary saying welcome. Ronnie Anne turned around to see Lincoln speed walk into the diner, looking around. Once he made eye contact with her, he smiled. Ronnie Anne immediately turned back to her table and away from Lincoln, trying to frown but failing to hide her blush.

Lincoln ran to her table and took a seat.

"Sorry, Ronnie. Lola kept me for a while. She was… er… showing me some of her clothes."

Ronnie waved her hand.

"It's fine, Lincoln. Did you bring your resume and your application?"

"Yeah!". Lincoln said as he pulled out the papers, "Here you go."

Ronnie Anne took them and looked through them quickly. Then, she put them in the satchel next to her.

"I'll evaluate them tomorrow morning. You should know by the afternoon when to come in for an interview, okay?"

"A-Alright!"

After Ronnie Anne put Lincoln's papers into her satchel, things got awkwardly silent at the table. Ronnie Anne poked at her dinner plate while Lincoln nervously smiled. The silence was broken when Mary showed up out of seemingly nowhere at their table.

"Hello, sir! My name is Mary, and I'll be your server for tonight. Here is the menu. If you need anything, don't be afraid to call me over, okay?"

Lincoln chuckled with a smile. Ronnie Anne peered at Mary, wondering what she was up to.

"Alright, thank you, Mary."

Mary nodded and left the table away from Lincoln, but still in the view of Ronnie Anne. When she got far enough, Mary turned back to the table with a thumbs up, mouthing the words, "Good luck! Don't mess this up."

Ronnie Anne blushed furiously and glared at Mary, who jokingly ran away in fear.

After Mary was out of Ronnie Anne's sights, she turned to Lincoln focusing hard on the menu.

"I'd recommend the BLT hot dog with caraway remoulade", Ronnie Anne said, catching Lincoln's attention and making him bring down his menu to see her.

"It's a San Francisco favorite apparently. More creamy and cool than other western hot dogs. It's pretty good", Ronnie Anne continued.

Lincoln smiled at her.

"Thanks, Ronnie Anne. I think I'll try that. Are you going to get anything?"

"Nah, I alright got myself a meal an hour ago. Go ahead and call over Mary."

"Gotcha. Mary!"

Mary walked over to Lincoln almost immediately and placed a glass of water in front of him. Mary and Lincoln then began to converse. Ronnie Anne looked over Lincoln, now with more clarity and less anger and lust.

Lincoln was really a man now. The scrawny kid he used to be was not sitting in front of her. To be honest, Lincoln was still a little scrawny looking, but that might just be because of his clothing. Ronnie Anne could see that he had some muscle. She guessed that boot camp really did make him stronger. She was grateful that he wasn't overly buff. He looked more recognizable this way. However, the biggest question on her mind now was… why? Why was Lincoln gone for so long?

Mary walked away from the table, but not before Lincoln gave his thanks to her. He turned to Ronnie Anne to see her just blankly staring at him.

"Ronnie? Ronnie Anne? Are you okay."

Ronnie Anne blinked rapidly for a second before shaking her head.

"W-What? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just… thinking."

"About what?"

"... About why."

Lincoln looked at her in confusion, his head tilted a little to the side.

"Why… why were you gone for so long, Lincoln? Eight years. Eight whole years I, everyone, was waiting for you. What… happened?"

Lincoln sadly looked down, his head facing the glass of water in front of him. The table was once again silent. It wasn't awkward this time though; it was kind of depressing.

After waiting patiently for Lincoln to say something, he looked up to her.

"I'll tell you a bit of what happened. I'll start with the first week of boot camp."

Ronnie Anne nodded. Lincoln took this as permission to start his story.

"It all started on a weird, dreary looking bus…"

…

Ronnie Anne stared at Lincoln with her mouth agape and a horrified look on her face. Lincoln was looking away from her, saddened by the memories of his lost childhood. He was focusing on eating the BLT hot dog that he got from Mary in the middle of him recounting what happened on the first week of boot camp.

Ronnie Anne was speechless. Over the last hour or so, she had heard one of the most disgusting and terrifying stories. It was made even more disgusting and terrifying to her since it was real and it had happened to Lincoln as a kid.

Lincoln coughed and decided to try and change the subject.

"H-Hey, you know, you're right! This BLT hot dog actually pretty good. I gotta' send my regards to your chef, hehe."

Ronnie Anne didn't say anything, leaving Lincoln to awkwardly laugh alone. He sighed and continued to eat his hot dog.

Suddenly, Ronnie Anne placed her hand on Lincoln's free hand, surprising him.

He looked at her to see tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Lincoln. I never knew that this could happen to anyone! I should have tried harder to make you stay. I should have just forced my way into your house and run away with you. Instead, I let you go suffer somewhere... for eight years! I… I'm a horrible friend."

Ronnie Anne began to sob quietly, and put her hands to her face, covering herself from Lincoln's view. Lincoln immediately put his hot dog down, wiped his hand with a napkin, and ran over to Ronnie Anne's side to console her. He used one arm to pull her closer to him into a side hug.

"Ronnie, Ronnie! It's okay. It's not your fault at all. No one could have expected that to happen to me. You have no right to blame yourself."

After Lincoln was done talking, Ronnie Anne wrapped her arms around Lincoln and hugged him back, resting her head on Lincoln's chest. Lincoln held her tighter.

For a while, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne sat next to each other at their table, holding each other in comfort. Ronnie Anne would occasionally make some hiccups, but the tears that fell from her eyes earlier were all gone, leaving her face dry.

Lincoln blushed a little when he noticed Mary at the corner of his eye watching them. However, instead of laughing or egging them on, she smiled and walked away, leaving the two alone.

"What happened next, Lincoln?"

Lincoln looked down at Ronnie Anne in surprise.

"What?"

"I asked you *hiccup* what happened next. You said that on the day you were going to escape with Emily that you helped her get out but got caught by the government officials or whatever. After they knocked you out, what happened?"

Lincoln thought about it for a bit. Ronnie Anne looked up at Lincoln in concern, wondering if she hit a soft spot. Lincoln saw Ronnie Anne's concerned look and promptly explained himself.

"Oh don't worry, Ronnie Anne. I'm not mad at you or anything. It's just that… After all that time in boot camp, every day just felt so similar. It's kind of hard to remember when everything was after the first week."

Ronnie Anne nodded and placed her head back against Lincoln's chest.

"I think… I remember what happened. Yeah, yeah, I think I got it. You sure you wanna' hear it, Ronnie?"

Lincoln felt Ronnie Anne nod her head against Lincoln's chest.

"Well, okay. I remember this feeling of dread. All I could see was black. I think eventually I realized I was knocked out…"

* * *

 **Finally, after three months, I finished a chapter. If you want to know what happened and what am I planning for in the future, I posted an update on my Tumblr. In summary, though, I'm planning to write more than just Loving Return now to keep my creative juices blending.**

 **I also created a Devumaru page on Facebook for anyone who uses that instead of Tumblr.**

 **For the Facebook page, just add /Devumaru/ at the end.**

 **Thank you guys for being patient. Look forward to a new generation of Devumaru!**


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